Good figures for German economy

GERMANY HAS made a strong start into the new year with strong manufacturing, consumption and labour data in Europe’s largest economy.

A record 41 million Germans held a job last year – up half a million in a year – according to new data released yesterday by the federal statistics office.

Meanwhile the closely-watched Markit manufacturing indicator rose in December to 48.4, up from 47.9 in November, reflecting a continued strength of Germany’s key industrial sector.

Ahead of today’s employment figures, expected to show a continued drop in the jobless rate, the federal statistics office said the number working in Germany was up 1.3 per cent on 2010.

About 41.04 million people had a job or were self-employed – half the German population – with the other half either minors, retired or unable to work. In a reflection of radical changes in Germany’s labour market, however, up to a third of new jobs are temporary or contract positions.

After a robust economic growth last year, forecast to be about 3 per cent, growth in Europe’s largest economy is likely to slow down in 2012. Economists are divided over the effect this will have on the labour market: some predict a jobs squeeze while others suggest another upswing will make itself felt by year’s end.

Figures released by the German chambers of industry and commerce showed German consumption up 1.2 per cent last year, boosted by the robust labour market situation.

The opposition has accused the government of fiddling the jobless figures. Last month, 100,000 people disappeared from the employment statistics after a new rule removing job-seekers aged 58 years and older who have lived for a year or longer on the dole.

The number of such job-seekers, no longer officially counted as jobless, rose 16 per cent last year. Analysts have also noted a 20 per cent rise in three years of Germans losing their jobs without any entitlement to unemployment payments.

More than a third of the 2.8 million people who lost their jobs last year had no entitlement to the standard 12-month dole, either because they earned too little or worked for too short a time. Instead they were granted the minimum €364 monthly payment.