Overview
- The Federal Employment Agency’s internal re-employment gauge has dropped to 5.7, a record low compared with a typical reading around 7.
- Officials describe the market as stagnant for months, with November showing 2.885 million unemployed and a 6.1% jobless rate alongside markedly fewer openings.
- IAB and BA data point to weaker hiring demand, including an estimated 19% year-on-year decline in open vacancies in Q3 2025, leaving far more jobseekers per post.
- Nahles says no worker group is fully insulated, with even well-qualified candidates facing greater risk, though higher qualifications still confer better chances.
- Entry prospects are particularly poor as apprenticeship placements fall to a roughly 25-year low, while the cabinet’s stricter Grundsicherung with a placement priority awaits Bundestag approval for a planned July 1, 2026 start, drawing her call for coordinated action and a focus on qualification.