Overview
- The Federal Employment Agency’s monthly re-employment indicator has fallen to roughly 5.6–5.7% in 2025, the lowest on record after years near 7%, according to Andrea Nahles.
- Official data show 2.885 million unemployed in November (6.1%) as the agency reports employer vacancy notifications remain weak and only steady at a low level.
- The cabinet has approved replacing Bürgergeld with a stricter basic-support law that reinstates a job-placement priority and tougher sanctions, pending Bundestag approval for a planned start on July 1, 2026.
- Nahles cautions that no worker group is fully shielded from layoffs, though higher-skilled people still fare better, and she notes apprenticeship placements for young people are at a roughly 25-year low.
- Economists and employer groups urge broader structural reforms beyond benefit rules, warning of industrial job losses in 2025 and the risk of prolonged stagnation without faster deregulation and cost relief.