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Unemployment rate rises in surprise spike

German unemployment registered a surprising rise in September, due to a scaling back of job creation schemes, official data showed on Tuesday.

Published: 1 October 2013 10:23 CEST

Unemployment rate rises in surprise spike

Photo: DPA

The number of people registered as unemployed in Europe’s top economy rose by 25,000 in seasonally adjusted terms last month, the Federal Labour Office said in a statement. Analysts had been expecting a drop of around 5,000.

The unemployment rate – which measures the proportion of people out of work compared with working population as a whole – edged up to 6.9 percent in September from 6.8 percent in August.

“This is due to less relief from labour market policy measures,” the office explained.

By contrast, in raw or unadjusted terms, the German jobless total fell by 96,760 people to 2.849 million and the unadjusted jobless rate declined to 6.6 percent from 6.8 percent, the office calculated.

“The labour market is in fundamentally good shape and is reacting little to

the mixed economic data,” the office said.

Annalisa Piazza at Newedge Strategy said she was taken by surprise by the signs of weakening in September.

“We had expected a slight decline in the unemployment level, due to the recent improvement in activity and signs of improved business conditions,” she said.

While the increase was “not good news for the German economic picture as a whole, we wouldn’t see it as a sign that the German labour market has started to deteriorate,” Piazza said.

Survey indicators have been upbeat in the past few months and business are expecting some improvement. Hiring intentions had also improved in the past

few months, the analyst noted.

“We rule out that the resilience of the German labour market will be affected now that the economy is actually gradually recovering,” she concluded.

IHS Global Insight analyst Timo Klein said the rise in unemployment in August and September “is somewhat at odds with the ongoing improvement in leading indicators in recent months.”

However, “generally improving economic developments, also in Europe as a whole, suggests that unemployment remains likely to stabilize during the latter months of 2013 and return to a declining tendency in 2014,” he said.

AFP/atje

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Which Bavaria-based companies regularly hire English speakers?

Munich ranks third in German cities with the highest total GDP, behind Berlin and Hamburg, but in terms of GDP per capita, it’s higher than both of them.

It also consistently ranks high, often highest, in terms of average household income.

As of 2023, nine of the 40 companies listed on DAX, Germany’s stock index, were based in Bavaria. Seven of those are based specifically in Munich.

While Frankfurt is commonly known to be Germany’s business capital, Munich can claim the title of Germany’s insurance capital, which is saying something, as Germany is home to some of the largest insurance firms in the world, like Allianz.

Beyond the state’s capital city, a number of international companies are based elsewhere in Bavaria, particularly in the Franken region, near Nuremberg.

Which companies actively hire English speakers?

Bavaria, and Munich in particular, is home to a number of companies at the forefront of international business. But the state is known for its traditional, sometimes conservative, culture, which affects its business culture as well.

Whereas companies embracing English as their primary business language are easy to find in Berlin, the practice is less common in the south. That said, there are some notable exceptions.

Sportswear giants, Adidas and Puma, both have their headquarters near Nuremberg in Herzogenaurach, and regularly recruit English speaking international talent.

“As an international company, our teams reflect the rich diversity of our consumers and communities,” Jon Greenhalgh, Senior Manager Media Relations for Adidas told The Local. “Fostering a culture of inclusion where we value and leverage differences, ensures that we can authentically engage with our employees and truly connect with our consumers.”

He added that around 40 per cent of Adidas’ Germany-based employees are foreign nationals, from over 100 different countries.

Siemens and BMW rank among Bavaria’s top employers, and are also known to hire their fair share of foreigners.

“In Germany, we recently had around 2,000 open positions,” Konstanze Somborn told The Local on behalf of Siemens AG.

He added that Siemens operates in 190 countries. “That is why we value international teams very much…English as a common language is very usual.”

READ ALSO: ‘Which German companies want to hire foreigners?’

Similarly, BMW hires workers from a variety of backgrounds.

“Every year, we hire lots of internationals and welcome them to the BMW Group,” Dr. Hans-Peter Ketterl, a press spokesman for BMW Group told The Local.

But not all of these positions are available to non-German speakers.

Ketterl added that BMW’s working language is German in the country, even though, “English is an indispensable entry requirement as the second corporate language in many areas of the company.”

Check job boards and follow best practices

If it’s your first time applying for jobs in Germany, make sure to change your resume to the German format, even for English positions.

While Germany is home to its own job boards, like Xing, LinkedIn is probably the best place to start. In addition to searching for positions based in your preferred location, you can check relevant groups, like Munich Startups, to broaden your horizons.

The English Jobs in Germany website is also a good resource to start with.

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