The number of people unemployed in Germany rose by around 8,000 in February to a total of 2.8 million, figures showed on Thursday.

Compared to a year earlier, the unemployment figure has increased by 194,000.

As a percentage, the amount of unemployed people of working age stayed steady at 6.1% on a month-by-month basis and edged up 0.4 percentage points on the year.

“The weak economic environment is dampening the overall robust labour market,” said Federal Employment Agency head Andrea Nahles in a statement.

“Unemployment and underemployment increased in February and demand for labour is falling.”

The number of vacancies fell by 72,000 from last February to 706,000.

The amount of people seeking employment training has increased meanwhile, with 4,000 more applicants registered in the 2023-24 reporting year than the previous period.

The number of company-based training places fell by 11,000 but there are still more training places than applicants.