German unemployment creeps higher, but jobless rate steady

27th Feb 2026 09:20

(Sharecast News) - Germany's jobless rate held steady again in February, but the number of unemployed people continued to creep higher, according to figures from the government's labour office on Friday.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 6.3%, in line with analysts' estimates. The jobless rate has remained unchanged since March 2025, marking its joint highest level since September 2020.

The seasonally adjusted number of unemployed people rose by 1,000 to 2.977m, slightly below the 2,000 increase expected by economists.

"Even at the end of the winter break, the labour market is still struggling to gain ‌momentum," said Andrea Nahles, head of the Federal Employment Agency.

In non-seasonally adjusted terms, unemployment declined by 14,700 over the month to 3.07m after hitting a 12-year high in January.

However, any figure above 3m remains bad news for the economy, according to analysts at ING. "The fact that the absolute number of those unemployed remains above the politically important 3 million is anything but good news," ING said in a note.

"Looking ahead, the number of vacancies has come down further and even if employment plans in both manufacturing and services have started to rebound, we see the gradual worsening of the labour market continuing throughout the year," the Dutch Bank wrote.