Germany job vacancies, employment hit record high
Berlin- Job vacancies in Germany hit a record at the end oflast year as immigration helped drive employment in Europe's biggesteconomy to an all-time high, data released on Monday showed.
The Nuremberg-based Federal Labour Agency said its indicator of thenumber of job vacancies climbed to 227 points in December - a rise of21 points over the same month in 2015.
Meanwhile, employment in Germany rose 1 per cent compared with theprevious year, to about 43.4 million in 2016, the Federal StatisticsOffice (Destatis) said.
The gain represented the continuation of a 10-year period ofexpansion in the nation's labour market.
"The higher labour force participation of the domestic population andthe immigration of foreign workers offset negative demographiceffects," said Destatis.
The German population is ageing at one of the fastest rates in theworld.
The solid state of the jobs market has played a key role in drivingconsumer spending, which is now a key pillar of economic growth inGermany.
Analysts are expecting the labour agency to say on Tuesday that thenation's unemployment rate held at a record low of 6 per cent inDecember after the monthly numbers out of work in the country fell by5,000.
The labour agency will also release figures on Tuesday showing theactual number of job vacancies with officials saying there remainedstrong demand for workers in the service sector, as well as retailingalong with the health and social service areas.
