In March 2025, approximately 45.7 million people with a residence in Germany were employed. According to preliminary calculations by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the number of employed persons was seasonally adjusted and increased by 6,000 compared to the previous month. Ultimately, the number of employed people remained virtually unchanged since December 2024, after a slight increase of 9,000 people in February and a decrease of 13,000 people in January.
When not seasonally adjusted, the number of employed people increased by 54,000 (+0.1%) compared to February due to the usual spring revival. However, the increase was less pronounced than the March average of the years 2022 to 2024 (+73,000 people).
Compared to March 2024, the number of employed people decreased by 53,000 (-0.1%). The change rate compared to the previous year was also at -0.1% in December 2024 to February 2025. The slight downward trend on the labor market since November 2024 continued steadily in March 2025.
According to preliminary calculations, on average, there were around 45.8 million employed people with an employment location in Germany in the first quarter of 2025. Compared to the previous quarter, the number of employed people decreased slightly by 7,000 after seasonal adjustments.
In March 2025, according to the results of the labor force survey, 1.64 million people were unemployed, the statisticians continued. This was 96,000 people or 6.2% more than in March 2024. The unemployment rate increased to 3.7%, an increase of 0.2 percentage points compared to the previous year (3.5%).
After adjusting for seasonal and irregular effects, the number of unemployed people in March 2025 was 1.58 million, which was 2,000 lower than in the previous month of February (-0.1%). The adjusted unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.5% compared to the previous month.