BERLIN, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Germany's labor market in October remained stable as the number of unemployed people declined slightly by 30,000 to a total of 2.2 million compared to last month, the German Federal Employment Agency (BA) announced on Wednesday.
"The current economic weakness is certainly leaving its mark on the labor market. All in all, however, it remains robust," said Detlef Scheele, head of the BA.
At 4.8 percent, the unemployment rate in Germany in October was 0.1 percentage points below the previous month's as well as previous year's figures.
"The number of unemployed is still stable, but the economic slowdown is becoming increasingly noticeable on the labor market with the usual delay," Holger Schaefer, senior economist for employment at the German Economic Institute (IW) told Xinhua.
Meanwhile, demand for labor in Germany was declining. In October, 764,000 job vacancies were registered at the German employment agency -- 60,000 fewer than a year earlier.
Although employment was still increasing, "the number of vacancies in October was seven percent below the previous year's level. Short-time work is also gaining in importance and could reach the level of the 2012-2013 recession in the coming months," according to Schaefer.
