- Hamburger Arbeitslosigkeit bleibt auf Sommerniveau
The sluggish summer effect on Hamburg's employment scene lingered into August. The jobless count swelled by 2.5% over July, hitting 91,862, as per the Hamburg Employment Agency's operational head, Reinhold Wellen. This figure represented an 8.8% uptick compared to August 2022. Consequently, the unemployment rate climbed by 0.1 percentage points to 8.2%. Wellen argued that the surge in joblessness was a typical seasonal reflection of the market, and the magnitude of the rise was within the usual range.
Top vacancies this season
Despite the lingering economic rejuvenation in Germany, the employment scene remains resilient, with employers consistently advertising new positions. As a result, August witnessed the highest volume of unoccupied positions this year, Wellen noted. Moreover, there's no discernible rise in the temporary layoff scheme. "However, the market dynamism is slightly subdued in August," summarized Wellen.
Latest employment figures in June stood at 1,073,700, a minor decrease of 1,300 or 0.1% from May. This proportional decrease aligned Hamburg with the national average. "In fact, the national decrease is also -0.1%," Wellen said. Remarkably, more individuals were socially insured in June 2023 than the preceding year.
Blossoming sectors
Equally promising, the "Transport and Warehousing" and manufacturing sectors showed exceptional growth. The former witnessed an additional 3,000 hires, while the latter reported 2,200 new positions. Unfortunately, the retail and temporary employment sectors continued to struggle, and for the first time, the "Communication & Information" sector lost momentum, signaling weak domestic and foreign demand, along with struggling consumer goods retail.
A rewarding job market enhancement
Fortunately, the number of reported job vacancies improved. Compared to July, the number of job openings soared by 8.9% or 222 positions, reaching 2,720 fresh opportunities. In comparison to August 2022, the surge was 8.8% or 221 additional positions. Wellen announced that the total number of vacant positions now stands at 13,646, setting a new record for the year. Encouragingly, over 13,000 positions can be filled immediately, and more than half of them - 8,231 - are tailored for skilled workers.
The Federal Agency for Labour played a role in providing the unemployment figures, with Reinhold Wellen, its operational head, discussing the jobless count and unemployment rate. Despite the high number of job vacancies, the surge in joblessness was within the usual range for this season, according to Wellen.
