Germany retail sales rose sharply in January

According to provisional data from Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), turnover in retail trade in January 2019 was in real terms 2.6% and in nominal terms 3.6% larger than in January 2018. The number of days open for sale was 26 in January 2019 and in January 2018. When adjusted for calendar and seasonal variations, the January turnover was in real and in nominal terms 3.3% higher than in December 2018.

Separate data from Destatis showed, in January 2019, 44.7 million persons resident in German. Compared with January 2018, the number of persons in employment increased by 1.1% (+483,000). This year-on-year change rate is the same as in the two last months of 2018. In January 2019, roughly 1.5 million people were unemployed, 71,000 fewer than a year earlier.

Results of the labour force survey show that there were 1.47 million unemployed in January 2019. Their number increased by 133,000 on December. When adjusted for seasonal and irregular effects, the number of unemployed stood at 1.41 million in January 2019. It was thus by 13,000 people lower than in the previous month. The adjusted unemployment rate declined to 3.2% in January 2019.