Dusseldorf (dpa / lnw) - The number of unemployed in North Rhine-Westphalia increased noticeably at the beginning of the year, as is typical for the time of year. A total of 702,519 people were registered as unemployed in January in the most populous federal state. That was 4.1 percent more than in the previous month, as reported by the NRW regional office of the Federal Employment Agency on Tuesday. The unemployment rate rose from 6.9 to 7.2 percent.
"The labor market was stable in January and thus confirmed the development of the months before the turn of the year," said the head of the NRW regional directorate, Roland Schuessler. Despite the uncertainties caused by the Ukraine war and the ongoing supply and material bottlenecks, the increase in unemployment in January was even slightly lower than the average for the past five years. "These are good signals," said Schuessler.
The factors typical of the season, such as employment contracts expiring at the end of the year or the end of the Christmas season, were the main reason for the increase in the number of unemployed.
The effects of the war and global developments could still be observed on the labor market in NRW, emphasized the labor market expert. "There continues to be a reluctance to register new jobs." Around 23,000 new vacancies reported to the employment agencies are not enough even for a month during the winter break.
Compared to the previous year, unemployment in January was 31,786 people or 4.7 percent higher. Schüßler said the reason for this was the influx of Ukrainian women and men last year who had fled to NRW before the Russian war of aggression. As of January 12, almost 38,500 people who had fled the Ukraine were registered as unemployed in NRW.
The regional differences in the North Rhine-Westphalian labor market were also large in January. The unemployment rate was highest in the Ruhr area at 9.9 percent. It was 7 percent in the Rhineland, 6.9 percent in the Bergisches Land, 5.6 percent in Ostwestfalen-Lippe and 5.5 percent in South Westphalia. The unemployment rate was lowest in Münsterland at 4.5 percent.
