Germany’s Labor Market Remains Stable in April, with Slight Increase in Employment
According to the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), approximately 45.8 million people with a residence in Germany were employed in April 2025. This figure, seasonally adjusted, remained unchanged compared to the previous month. The number of employed individuals has remained nearly constant since December 2024, following a decline of 14,000 in January and small increases of 10,000 and 5,000 in February and March, respectively.
In contrast, the non-seasonally adjusted number of employed individuals in April increased by 77,000 (+0.2 percent) compared to March. This growth was less pronounced than the average increase in April of the years 2022 to 2024, which stood at 99,000.
Compared to April 2024, the number of employed individuals decreased by 61,000 (-0.1 percent). The change rate in the months of December 2024 to March 2025 was also -0.1 percent, with a slight downward trend on the labor market in the comparison to the previous year since November 2024 continuing in April 2025.
In April 2025, a total of 1.66 million people were unemployed, a figure that represents an increase of 256,000 or 18.2 percent compared to the same month in the previous year. The unemployment rate rose to 3.8 percent, a 0.6 percentage point increase from the previous year’s 3.2 percent.
After adjusting for seasonal and irregular effects, the number of unemployed individuals in April 2025 was 1.58 million, a decrease of 3,000 (-0.2 percent) from the previous month. The adjusted unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.6 percent compared to the previous month.