The number of people in work will hit 45.2 million this year while wages will rise by 4.8 percent, the paper said, citing economic forecasts for Europe's largest economy that are due to be publicly released on Wednesday.

Sources have told Reuters that the government has cut its economic growth forecast for 2019 to 1.0 percent from 1.8 percent, which Handelsblatt said was mainly due to risks from trade disputes.

(Reporting by Maria Sheahan; Editing by Michelle Martin)