An anticipated moderate increase in the figure is being attributed partly to seasonal effects, as German unemployment tends to rise in the last month of the year. In November, 2.699 million people were jobless.

The December figures will not show the effects of the near-total lockdown currently in place to stem the spread of the coronavirus, as the data was only collected up to December 10. The harsher lockdown measures were imposed on December 16.

BA head Detlef Scheele is scheduled to provide an overview of the entire year, during which the agency distributed more money than ever before, in part to fund Germany’s extensive furlough, or short-time work scheme.