Wave of unemployment in Germany. The crisis hits the elites. “I apply for two or three offers every day”
Andreas Roder is going through a difficult period right now. He has been looking for a job for over 10 weeks. “I apply for two or three offers every day,” says a father of a family from Berlin, who does not want to give his real name. During this time, he received only two invitations to interview potential employers. There were many more refusals. In most cases he received no response.
Roder is very worried about this. Former managing director and head of the product department in a start-up he's looking for a job like crazy and he does it in a very organized way. Still, to no avail. The high number of job applications and insufficient offers is a symptom of a much deeper problem.
“I created an AI assistant that searches for offers on relevant job portals every day,” he explains. Artificial intelligence (AI) searches for key words in advertisements. The program then enters them into your CV. Application for the offer is also done using AI.
In the first stage, a potential employer also evaluates a large number of applications using artificial intelligence. “In many areas, AI pre-sorts job applications,” says Julia Borkenhagen of the German Federal Employment Agency. “A vacancy in the IT industry quickly receives 300 to 500 applications – no one person can review them all.”
The labor market is changing. Not so long ago, it seemed that unemployment was no longer an indicator of Germany's economic problems, and the aging population means that almost everyone can find a job almost according to their preferences. Times were great for the employees. Companies had to take care of their employees.
However, this situation has been slowly but steadily changing for several months. This is shown by monthly data from the German Federal Employment Agency (BA) as well as job portals.
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Numbers often speak louder than words, including those on pages 47-76 of the BA Labor Market Report.
In August, the unemployment rate was 6.4 percent. In September, the number of unemployed people fell below this level again. However, after taking into account seasonal factors in Germany no improvement was noted.
— The labor market still lacks the necessary impulses for a stronger recovery, said Andrea Nahles. The head of BA then warned that the number of unemployed people could exceed three million again in the winter.
Production decline in Germany
Bad moods come as no surprise to anyone. The German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) has just announced the largest decline in production since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Industry, construction and energy suppliers reduced production by 4.3%.
Economists expected a much smaller decline of around one percent. “The negative development of production in August 2025 is in particular due to the strong decline in Germany's largest industry, the automotive industry,” Destatis states.
The situation may improve when the government's debt-financed economic stimulus program begins to bear fruit, sometime in 2026. At least until then, companies will save money and reduce employment. In times of crisis this has almost always been the case.
However, what has changed is who currently finds it particularly difficult to find a job. This says a lot about Germany's economic crisis and technological change. It is a phenomenon with particularly harmful potential for society.
This applies primarily to professional groups that for many years considered themselves safe thanks to education.
According to the Stepstone job portal, the number of advertisements in the German advertising industry has fallen by 61%. in 2019–2025, and in marketing by 36%. Cuts to corporate advertising budgets due to the poor economic climate are clearly paying off.
However, the developments in the IT industry are much more surprising. Here, too, there was a decline of 35%. Stepstone cites developers and system administrators as an example. This is a professional group that until recently had an advantage in negotiations regarding remuneration and working conditions. The consulting industry was also hit hard, with a decline of 19%, as well as the human resources industry and even engineering professions, which saw a decline of 12%.
Man in the office (illustrative photo)aslysun / Shutterstock
Andreas Roder knows this situation. He has higher education and is familiar with product development in the IT industry, attracting investors and business processes. He is currently 55 years old. “Maybe that matters too,” he thinks. Borkenhagen from BA, asked about Roder's case, explains: “At the age of about 40, there is usually no problem yet. It is more difficult after 50, at the beginning of 60 – then the approaching retirement becomes important.” For Roder, it's like a trap.
Trump's tariffs are making things worse
There is a problem for many older workers. Politicians want them to work longer, preferably beyond retirement age. But many companies are eliminating thousands of jobs and laying off older workers. For example, the automotive industry is making drastic cuts.
Bosch and its suppliers intend to eliminate a total of approx. 22,000 jobs. jobs in Germany. Car manufacturers are also cutting jobs. In turn, Lufthansa is eliminating approximately 4,000 positions in the administration. These are just examples of the trend.
The German economy has been struggling with transformation for years. The tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump worsen the situation of companies and, therefore, their employees. As a result, people who have lost their jobs once have difficulty finding new employment. However, the government in Berlin is discussing the introduction of benefits for people who have often never worked or have been unemployed for a long time. At the end of this week, the CDU/CSU and SPD coalition decided to tighten the regulations.
In the event of the first unexcused failure to appear at a meeting at the employment office, the benefit for people receiving benefits will be immediately reduced by 30%. So far it was 10 percent. If a person fails to appear at the second meeting, another 30 percent. will be deducted.
If the person fails to cooperate at all, Citizenship Benefit and rent subsidy will be completely abolished. This increases the pressure on those who do not want to work. However, this does not help those who are desperately looking for a job and cannot find it. Only a clear economic recovery would help them.
As data from job portals Indeed and Stepstone show, there are jobs, but only in professions that often earn less than in traditional industry or the IT industry.
“The situation is much better in care, childcare or crafts,” says Indeed. Stepstone, in turn, has seen an increase in the number of trade job offers since 2019 by an impressive 417%. In the army this increase is 400 percent, and in social professions it is 235 percent. Craftsmen and logistics workers are also wanted.
This is a serious problem for those affected. “I receive EUR 1,600 (approx. PLN 6,800) in unemployment benefits, of which EUR 1,500 (approx. PLN 6,350) I spend on rent for our apartment,” says Roder. For now, this is a temporary phenomenon for him. However, if he takes another job with lower pay, his financial situation will become more difficult in the long run. Like many others, he must hope that the federal government can improve the economy.
