9/3/2009

Bavaria’s Economics Minister Zeil comments on labor market figures for August 2009

MUNICH Bavaria’s Minister of Economic Affairs, Martin Zeil, comments on the labor market figures released on Tuesday by the German Federal Employment Agency: “The Bavarian labor market was comparatively robust in August again with an unemployment rate of 4.9 percent. Bavaria still has the lowest rate of unemployment in all Germany. The sharp increase feared by many has not yet materialized. All the same, the labor market in Bavaria is increasingly feeling the effects of the economic crisis.” The rise in the number of people out of work in August was much steeper than in the years before.  “Although the economic downturn has been stopped, the latest labor market statistics show that it would be premature to naively start celebrating now. We do not have an economic boom ahead of us, but rather a tough recovery”, the Minister warned. The risks for the labor market were still high.

Zeil: “Besides the crisis management required at the moment, what we need most is to secure the long-term future prospects for Bavaria as a top location for business. We are consistently relying on boosting the forces of growth in the State. For jobs that are irretrievably lost we must actively pursue a business policy that will open up new sectors of employment.”

According to the current statistics from Nuremberg, 325,757 people in Bavaria were without a job in August, which was 14,550 more than in July. The rate of unemployment rose to 4.9 percent.

Source: Invest in Bavaria

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