German Unemployment Rate Drops to its Lowest in Fifteen Years
The job market of Germany seems to be heating up because the unemployment rate in the country slid down to lowest in February this year since November 1992. Pleasant weather and worldwide demand in cars and machinery forced companies to increase their number of workers. The Federal Labor Agency in Nuremberg said that the unemployment rate managed for the seasonal fluctuations declined to 8% from its earlier 8.1 percent in January. This unemployment rate for Germany is the lowest since November 1992 and it also confirms to be the average forecast of about thirty eight estimates carried out by Bloomberg News survey.
The managed number of individuals who did not have jobs dropped by 75,000 to 3.34 million. Strong exports and national investment are supporting payroll growth in the German economy which is the biggest economy of Europe and it managed to achieve this drop in unemployment in the face of sluggish economic growth worldwide, highest oil prices in the international market as well as the robust value of the euro. There was also a surprise rise in investor confidence and business sentiment. As per the German weather service the month of February was strangely warmer and dry. Federal Labor Agency’s president Frank-Juergen Weise also confirmed that the unusually pleasant weather helped in the drop of unemployment in the country.
The president during the television interview also said that the demand in the country is steadying at a great level with small and mid sized companies hiring workers and the companies are mostly involved in machine making. The rate of hiring workers is greater than the rate in job cuts he further added. A soft winter is helping construction companies to keep people and this is strengthening the dropping unemployment rate in the country. According to meteorologist at the Offenbach-based weather service DWD, Andreas Friedrich, at 3.6 degrees Celsius the standard temperature for February was 3.3 degrees greater than the long term average temperature in the country. The world’s biggest car component manufacturer, Robert Bosch GmbH, is in need of filling up 1,500 jobs for the current year according to Andreas Kempf, the spokesman for the company; the new jobs will be an addition to the 1,800 new workers hired in the last year by the company. The spokesman further elaborated that there is no sign of export orders stopping.
Rising employment for the people means enhancement in consumption which is the greatest part of the German economy. The disposable incomes of households grew by one percent for the fourth quarter according to the statistics office. There is also an improvement in retailer sentiment the Ifo index confirmed. As per the Bloomberg purchasing managers’ index retail sales in Germany grew for the first time in five months in February this year which is also helped by pleasant weather conditions. Given this encouraging development the highest $1.5144 per euro drop of the dollar is making the German goods less aggressive outside Europe. Fuel prices have risen to over $100 a barrel and it is restricting companies and a person from spending and it is also feeding inflation.
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