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Youth unemployment set to sink to record low

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Youth unemployment set to sink to record low
Photo: DPA

German youth unemployment figures are expected to fall to their lowest levels since the country's reunification in the coming months, according to a Saturday news report.

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News magazine Focus said the latest statistics put Germany at the top of the heap among the 27 members of the European Union.

In February, less than 300,000 young people – or 6.3 percent – in Germany were jobless.

Holger Schäfer, labour market expert at the Cologne Institute for Economic Research, said the number of under-25-year-olds without work will "drop below five percent" this fall.

He added that some regions are already having trouble filling apprenticeship vacancies.

Citing EU statistics, Focus said German youth unemployment was 7.8 percent in January. The figure was more than four times higher in Spain, where nearly one in every two young people is out of work.

In France, more than 23 percent of eligible workers in the under-25 bracket are unemployed.

The head of Germany's Federal Employment Agency, Raimund Becker, praised preparatory programmes for helping get both high-performing and lower-ranking students ready for the job market.

The Local/arp

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