Germany's jobless count keeps rising, data shows

The number of unemployed in Germany jumped by 17,000 in November in monthly terms, to 2,540,000, according to the country’s Federal Labor Agency.

Statistics issued on Wednesday show the nation’s unemployment rate rose to 5.6% last month from 5.5% in October. Analysts had not expected the figure to change from the previous month.

“Overall, the labor market is stable,” Daniel Terzenbach, who’s in charge of regions at the Federal Labor Agency, said in a statement. “Seasonally adjusted unemployment and underemployment have risen once more and short-time work is increasing again, but employment is growing significantly.”

The report highlighted that the highest unemployment rate in the country was recorded in Bremen (10.4%) and in Berlin (8.9%), and the lowest in Bavaria (3.3%).

The EU’s largest economy, which has been hit by the energy crisis and by record inflation, is widely expected to fall into recession. The head of the Free Democratic Party’s (FDP) parliamentary group in the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia, Henning Höne, declared last week that German living standards could collapse as a result of a “complete failure” of the government’s energy policy.

The nation is also at risk of a massive exodus of companies due to soaring energy costs, with one in four German enterprises reportedly considering moving production to other countries. According to the Federation of German Industries (BDI), companies are suffering a variety of problems, including high energy prices, disrupted supply chains, and even aftershocks from China's rigid crackdown on the Covid-19 pandemic.

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