By Christo Volschenk
The German job market remains unaffected by the uncertainty surrounding Greece, Europe’s banks and the future of the euro. But, the rest of Europe is showing the first signs of what could turn into a job market nightmare in coming months, if the uncertainty drags on.  

Job portal Monster released its September reading of the Monster Employment Index today, and the news was exceptionally positive for Germany – and ominous for the rest of Europe.

While the number of jobs advertised on job portals and company web sites in Germany continued to grow from August to September (+3 percent), it dropped in France (-5 percent), the Netherlands (-4 percent), Belgium (-6 percent), Sweden (-6 percent), Italy (-6 percent) and the U.K. (-2 percent).

For Europe as a whole, the drop was limited to -1 percent. Still, this could be the start of something ugly.

With no sign coming from Europe’s politicians that they are about to get a grip on the situation, the only conclusion to draw, is that Europe’s job markets are facing a period of contraction. The question to ask now, is how long before Germany’s job market also starts contracting?

At the end of September Germany’s export-driven economy seemed far away from that point. Then there were 30 percent more jobs offered on German job portals than in January 2011. In the nine months from January to September the number of jobs offered climbed in every month, except May, when the Monster Employment Index registered a negligible drop from April. An indication that the expansion forces were pretty strong in this period.

Furthermore, growth was broadbased: in September the number of jobs offered grew in all nine job categories measured by the Monster Index.  It was also geographically broadbased: the number of jobs grew in all 16 states making up Germany.

All in all, the last nine months could not have been better. But, the joy-ride might soon be over.