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German Unemployment Declined in January to Lowest Since 1992
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By Rainer Buergin and Christian Vits


Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- German unemployment fell to an 18- year low in January, stoking concerns that the world’s second- largest exporter is running short of skilled labor.

The number of people out of work declined a seasonally adjusted 13,000 to 3.135 million, the lowest since November 1992, the Nuremberg-based Federal Labor Agency said today. Economists forecast a drop of 10,000, according to the median of 32 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. The adjusted jobless rate fell to 7.4 percent from 7.5 percent.

Falling unemployment helps bolster German consumer spending and corporate investments, adding to the economy’s export strength. As unemployment lines shorten and the population shrinks, industrial companies face a skilled labor shortage that may restrain growth.

“Long-term unemployment is declining,” said David Milleker, chief economist at Union Investment in Frankfurt. “We’ll most likely have a broader discussion about a lack of skilled workers.”

Schaeffler Group, the world’s second-biggest maker of roller bearings, may add about 5,000 workers this year as it prepares for sales growth exceeding 10 percent, Chief Executive Officer Juergen Geissinger said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 26.

Booming exports to Asia and stronger household spending propelled German business confidence to a record high in January, Munich-based Ifo institute said Jan. 21. Consumer confidence will rise to the highest in more than three years this month, market research company GfK AG predicted Jan. 25.

‘Serious Problem’

A lack of skilled labor “can already be felt today and threatens to become a serious problem for the competitiveness of our industry in the medium term,” Martin Kannegiesser, head of the Gesamtmetall lobby of engineering companies, said yesterday in Berlin.

Germany had a shortage of 84,000 workers in October in jobs requiring mathematics, computer science, technology and natural- sciences skills, and lacked 43,000 engineers, he said.

To ease executives’ hiring problems, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s bloc of Christian Democrats and Christian Social Union are looking at ways to attract young, unemployed skilled workers from European Union countries, Spiegel magazine reported. Merkel will address the idea at a meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in Madrid this week, Spiegel said.

Germany’s unemployment rate will slide to 7 percent this year from 7.7 percent in 2010 even as economic growth slows to 2.3 percent from 3.6 percent, according to the government’s annual economic report, approved by Merkel’s Cabinet on Jan. 19.

The lack of skilled personnel is eroding at least 30 billion euros ($41 billion) in annual revenue at Germany’s medium-sized companies, the newspaper Die Welt reported Jan. 25, citing a study by Ernst & Young LLP.

According to OECD data, Germany’s jobless rate was 6.7 percent in November. The equivalent rate in France was 9.8 percent, the U.S. rate was 9.8 percent and the Group of Seven average was 8.2 percent.

To contact the reporters on this story: Rainer Buergin in Berlin at rbuergin1@bloomberg.net; Christian Vits in Frankfurt at cvits@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net; Craig Stirling at cstirling1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 1, 2011 03:55 EST