BERLIN: Germany’s ifo Institute announced on Monday that its employment barometer climbed from 95.4 points in August to 96.3 points in September as an increasing number of German companies planned to hire new staff.
“The economy is recovering and this development is increasingly reflected in employment” in Germany, ifo noted. The monthly ifo employment index is based on around 9,000 responses from German companies.
Service providers in Germany showed the quickest recovery from the employment shock of the COVID-19 crisis, in particular in the information technology (IT) sector, ifo noted, adding that the construction industry also picked up significantly this month as “companies are now planning to expand their workforce.”
Last week, Dieter Babiel, managing director of the main association of the German construction industry (HDB), stressed that the construction sector continued to be a “pillar of the overall economy.”
Although new orders in the construction industry declined, incoming orders were at the second highest level ever measured in July, said Babiel, adding that because of the “overall good results,” a slight increase in employment was expected for 2020.
According to ifo, Germany’s trade sector made a “significant leap upward” in September but the employment barometer still remained well under pre-crisis levels.
Germany’s manufacturing industry likewise “continued its upward trend,” ifo stated. However, employees in the country’s important manufacturing industry were still more likely to be laid off than hired.
In August, unemployment number in Germany increased slightly by 45,000 from the previous month to a total of 2.955 million. The summer break was the main reason for the increase, according to the Federal Employment Agency (BA).–Agencies
