In February 2026, about 45.5 million people living in Germany were employed. According to provisional figures from Germany’s Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the seasonally adjusted number of workers fell by 10,000 people – a change that effectively represents 0.0 % – compared with the previous month. Across the period from May 2025 to January 2026, the average monthly drop relative to the preceding month was 12,000 workers.
Looking at the non‑seasonally adjusted data, the employment figure in February 2026 was slightly down by 4,000 people (0.0 %) from January, while the February average for the 2023‑2025 period had been 20,000 workers higher than the previous month.
Year‑on‑year, February 2026 saw 111,000 fewer employed people than February 2025 – a decline of 0.2 %. The downward trend in the annual comparison, first noted in August 2025, continued through October and November 2025 (both at -0.1 %) and in December 2025 and January 2026 (both at -0.2 %).
From the labor market survey, 1.84 million people were unemployed in February 2026. This was 233,000 more people, or 14.5 % higher, than in February 2025. Consequently, the unemployment rate rose to 4.2 %, a 0.5‑percentage‑point increase over the prior year’s February rate of 3.7 %.
After adjusting for seasonal and irregular effects, the number of unemployed people in February 2026 was 1.76 million – a decrease of 2,000 people, or -0.1 %, from the previous month of January. The seasonally and irregularly adjusted unemployment rate remained steady at 4.0 %.
