Unemployment numbers in Germany rose by 17,000 in November over the previous month, hitting 2,450,000, according to data from the German Federal Labor Agency.
The data showed unemployment rising 5.6%, compared to 5.5% in October. Analysts who were surveyed had predicted there would have been no change from the prior month.
Daniel Terzenbach, regions head at the Federal Labor Agency, said in a statement, “Overall, the labor market is stable. Seasonally adjusted unemployment and underemployment have risen once more and short-time work is increasing again, but employment is growing significantly.”
In the report it was noted the highest unemployment was found in Bremen (10.4%), and in Berlin (8.9%, while the lowest was in Bavaria (3.3%).
Germany, despite being the EU’s largest economy, has suffered tremendously under the skyrocketing energy rates of Europe as well as record inflation. As a result it is now expected to fall into recession. Last week, Henning Höne, the head of the Free Democratic Party’s (FDP) parliamentary group in the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia said the living standards of Germans could collapse due to the “complete failure” of the government’s energy policy.
Germany is also facing the prospect of a massive “deindustrialization,” due to a massive exodus of German firms which can no longer produce products at competitive prices in Germany, due to the sky-high inflation and skyrocketing energy prices. Many German firms are watching competitors routinely undercut them, due to producing products in regions where energy is cheaper and the cost of living and wages are lower, and they are concluding they have no choice but to move to more affordable environs themselves.
Some countries in Europe are even accusing the United States of having exacerbated the conflict in Ukraine specifically as part of a strategy to raise energy prices in Europe, in hopes European businesses would chose to migrate to America, and America’s economy would benefit from the increase in jobs and business infrastructure.
