BERLIN, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Germany unemployment rose in June for the first time since the beginning of the year as the refugees from Ukraine are registering with the Federal Employment Agency (BA) in search of work.
"The labor market as a whole remains stable," BA chief Detlef Scheele said. The increase was due to the fact that "Ukrainian refugees are now recorded in the job centers and thus visible in the labor market statistics."
Just over 2.36 million people were registered without a job in Germany in June, 103,000 more than in May but still 251,000 less than a year ago, according to the BA.
The country's unemployment rate rose by 0.3 percentage points month-on-month to 5.2 percent.
As of June, refugees from Ukraine are no longer treated as asylum seekers in Germany, but as recognized refugees. Registered refugees from Ukraine have since been entitled to social benefits, such as unemployment benefits or child benefits.
"The door to the labor market is open to people from Ukraine," Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Hubertus Heil said on Thursday. "Now we have to help them step over the threshold."
Around 125,000 Ukrainians are currently listed as unemployed in the country, according to the BA. In May, before refugees from Ukraine could officially register as unemployed, the figure only stood at 14,000.
The number of people in employment in Germany rose slightly to around 45.5 million in May, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said on Thursday. The figure first exceeded pre-pandemic levels back in March.
Since the peak of the third COVID-19 wave in March 2021, the recovery of Germany's labor market was "largely unaffected" by further infection waves and the consequences of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Destatis noted. ■