According to Andrea Nahles, head of the Federal Employment Agency (BA), the chances of unemployed people in Germany finding a job have reached a record low. The corresponding indicator is currently “lower than ever before,” she told the Web.de portal, according to a report on Friday. The labor market has been “flat as a board for months,” with “no momentum coming in.”
The indicator shows “how likely unemployed people are to find a job again,” said Nahles. The value is usually around seven, “but now it is 5.7, lower than ever before.” The number of unemployed people in Germany stood at 2.885 million in November, with an unemployment rate of 6.1 percent. This was 0.1 percentage points lower than in October. However, compared to November 2024, it rose by 0.2 percentage points.
Nahles also pointed out some positive aspects in the interview. Although unemployment is on the rise, “at the same time, more people are in jobs subject to social insurance contributions than ever before in the history of the Federal Republic,” she said. “An unemployment rate of around six percent, which is what we expect for the coming months, is not so dramatic by international standards.”
According to Nahles, well-trained employees still have the best chances on the job market. Nevertheless, in her view, no group of employees is safe from job loss anymore.
The outlook for job seekers is currently poor. “We have placed fewer young people in training than we have in 25 years,” said Nahles, looking ahead to 2025. The BA chief advises job seekers not to fixate on a single career choice. Regional mobility is also helpful when looking for a job. “There are often jobs available, just not on your doorstep.”
In her interview with Web.de, Nahles defined the problem as “an economic crisis that has been going on for three years now, combined with structural challenges.” “AI, e-mobility, quantum computing—we need to turn these into new business models now,” she demanded. When asked how this could be achieved, she replied: “In any case, not by just talking about citizen's income.” What is needed is “genuine cooperation from all sides: politics, research, business.”
Nahles welcomed the planned reform of the citizen's income, saying, “We are demanding more cooperation from clients and establishing clear rules regarding sanctions.” In mid-December, the cabinet decided to replace the citizen's income after only three years with a new basic income support system that provides for stricter rules and severe sanctions. In addition, the so-called placement priority for the unemployed is to apply again in the future—in other words, priority will be given to placing people in jobs as quickly as possible rather than, for example, providing further training.
Nahles criticized this, saying, “In my view, this regulation could become really problematic if the qualification profile of individual unemployed people is not taken into account.” She demanded that the discussion on citizen's income should not “ignore the labor market.” The reform still has to be approved by the Bundestag. It is scheduled to come into force on July 1, 2026.
The skills of unemployed people “often do not match the vacancies.” “Priority placement does not change this for the time being,” said Nahles. Qualifications remain important. “Otherwise, people will be back at the job center after three months.”
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