German jobless rate eases in May, labour market remains sluggish

The number of unemployed people in Germany fell by 58,000 in May from the previous month to 2.95 million, the Federal Employment Agency said on Friday.

The decline pushed the total back below the 3 million mark, a closely watched threshold in debates over the health of Germany's labour market.

However, the number of unemployed was still 31,000 higher than in May 2025, according to the agency's monthly report.

The German unemployment rate stood at 6.3% in May, down 0.1 percentage points from April but 0.1 points higher than a year earlier.

Despite the positive figures, Federal Employment Agency chief Andrea Nahles said there was little evidence of the usual spring recovery in the labour market.

"Despite a decline in unemployment, the spring upturn has not really got going this year," Nahles said. She added that the improvement may have reflected a weak April rather than a particularly strong May and said there was still no sign of a broader turnaround in labour trends.

Demand for workers has stabilized at a relatively low level, the agency said. There were 643,000 vacant positions registered with the agency in May, 8,000 more than a year earlier.

The number of people receiving unemployment benefits rose by 113,000 year on year to 1.073 million in May.