German unemployment rate falls back to pre-pandemic level

Mar 02, 2022: German unemployment dropped to pre-pandemic levels in February, two years after the coronavirus shuttered large parts of the economy, official figures published Wednesday showed.

The jobless rate stood at five percent in February on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the BA federal labour agency, the same level as in February 2020.

Employment had followed a steady "upwards trend", BA chairman Detlef Scheele said in a statement, despite Germany's economic struggles around the turn of the year.

Renewed health restrictions and the impact of supply chain disruptions will likely put Europe's largest economy into a recession between the last quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2022, according to the German central bank.

The impact of the war in Ukraine is "not yet reflected in the figures", Scheele said.

AFP/APP