Data provided by the Federal Employment Agency (FEA) showed that in March, the unemployment rate (seasonally adjusted) increased by 0.1% to 6.3%, reaching its highest level since September 2020. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to remain unchanged.
Meanwhile, the number of unemployed grew by 25 thousand, to 2.922 million people, after an increase of 9 thousand in February (revised from +5 thousand). Consensus estimates suggested an increase of 10 thousand. In annual terms, the number of unemployed rose by 198 thousand in March.
Underemployment increased by 13,000 people (seasonally adjusted) compared to the previous month, reaching 3,698,000, which is 97,000 more than a year ago.
"March marks the start of the so-called spring recovery on the labour market. This year however, the economic slump is noticeably slowing it down", Anfrea Nahles, the head of the labour office said.
The report also showed that in March there were 643,000 job vacancies, down by 64,000 from a year ago, indicating weakening labor demand.