BERLIN (Reuters) – The number of people out of work in Germany rose more than expected in May, Federal Labour Office figures showed on Tuesday.
The office said the number of unemployed grew by 25,000 in seasonally adjusted terms. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected that figure to rise by 10,000.
“The spring recovery did not really get going this year,” said labour office head Andrea Nahles. “Improvement is still a long time coming.”
The seasonally adjusted jobless rate remained unchanged at 5.9%.
There were 702,000 job openings in May, 65,000 fewer than a year ago, the Federal Labour Office said.
According to a labour office analysis, the number of professions with a pronounced shortage of skilled workers has fallen slightly, to 183 affected occupations from 200.
The shortage situation has eased somewhat for skilled labour in structural engineering and facade construction, as well as engineers in aerospace technology, the office said.
However, this is not indicative of a long-term trend, according to Nahles.
“Due to demographic developments, many well-qualified and experienced skilled workers will continue to leave the labour market in the coming years,” said Nahles.
(Reporting by Holger Hansen, Writing by Miranda Murray, editing by Andrey Sychev)
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