Do I need the explicit consent of my employees following UWG for sending them the Newsletter?

In general, the requirement of consent for newsletters does not come from the GDPR at all, but is a requirement from the law against unfair competition (Section 7 (2) UWG). Here, the employer now decides that the newsletter - or the request to subscribe to the newsletter - is sent to the employees. The scope of application of the UWG is to be regarded as not opened up here. The purpose of the UWG is the "protection of competitors, consumers and other market participants against unfair business practices". In their role as employees, the persons concerned are neither competitors, nor consumers, nor other market participants; rather, they are part of the acting party. If we look at it closely, the company informs the employees by means of the newsletter about vacancies in the company. This does not therefore fall under advertising, but must be justified by permissible corporate communication.