Dusseldorf (dpa / lnw) - Unemployment in North Rhine-Westphalia in August rose a little more than usual for the season due to the immigration of people from the Ukraine. A total of almost 694,000 people were registered as unemployed on August 11, 0.9 percent more than in the previous month, as the North Rhine-Westphalia Regional Directorate of the Federal Employment Agency announced on Wednesday. The unemployment rate rose from 7.0 to 7.1 percent.
"As in the previous month, statistically, unemployment has risen a little more than is usual in August, a month characterized by the summer holidays," said Torsten Withake, head of the NRW regional office. The background is the registration of people who fled from the Ukraine before the Russian war of aggression by the job centers. These people would currently be visible in the labor market statistics. According to him, around 38,500 people who had fled the Ukraine were registered as unemployed in NRW in August.
Despite all the burdens and uncertainties, the labor market in NRW remains stable, said Withake. The number of vacancies reported to employment agencies in August even rose by 1.2 percent to a good 177,000. But there is a catch: companies are generally looking for qualified specialists, while around 60 percent of people who are registered as unemployed do not have the relevant qualifications. The qualification of these workers is therefore the central key in the fight against the shortage of skilled workers, said Withake.
