Employment in 2011

More than 41 million persons in employment for the first time in 2011

In 2011 there were an average of approximately 41.04 million persons in employment whose place of residence is in Germany. According to first preliminary calculations of the Federal Statistical Office, the 41-million threshold was thus exceeded for the first time in 2011 and the previous record employment level reached in the previous year was markedly exceeded, too, that is, by 535,000 persons or 1.3%. That positive development is connected with the short-term economic upswing that has continued for two years and, in addition, was supported by the fact that the number of persons in employment in 2009 had remained stable despite the slump in economic performance in Germany caused by the financial crisis.
 
According to provisional estimates based on the labour force survey, the number of unemployed (according to an internationally comparable definition) decreased by 446,000 persons (–15.1%) to 2.5 million in Germany on an annual average in 2011. The unemployment rate was down from 6.8% to 5.7% in the same period. The labour force defined as the total of employed and unemployed persons, thus increased by 89,000 persons to 43.54 million compared with the previous year.
 
The positive short-term economic development of last year is reflected both by the number of self-employed and by the number of employees. The number of employees living in Germany rose by 478,000 persons (+1.3%) to about 36.50 million on an annual average in 2011. The number of self-employed including unpaid family workers rose by 57,000 persons (also +1.3%) to about 4.55 million over the same period.
 
According to the Federal Statistical Office's first provisional calculations, the number of persons in employment whose place of employment is in Germany amounted to about 41.09 million on an annual average in 2011. That is an increase of 541,000 persons or 1.3% from the previous year. The difference between the number of persons in employment whose place of residence is in Germany and of those whose place of employment is in Germany can be explained by the balance of the number of resident and non-resident persons in employment commuting across the borders of Germany (balance of cross-border commuters). On an annual average in 2011, the balance of cross-border commuters, that is the difference between the number of persons in employment commuting to Germany and the number of persons in employment commuting to another country, amounted to +53,000 persons. Hence the surplus of incoming commuters exceeded the average surplus in 2010 by 6,000 persons.
 
 
Employment increased in nearly all economic sectors in 2011. In the total of all service branches, the number of persons in employment whose place of employment is in Germany rose by a total 357,000 persons (+1.2%) on an annual average in 2011 compared with the previous year. The branch of business services (including temporary work) accounted for the largest part of that increase (+214,000 persons in employment or +4.2%). The producing branches, too, recorded above-average gains in employment. In industry (excluding construction), the number of persons in employment was up by 131,000 (+1.7%) in 2011, following the considerable job losses in 2009 and 2010, while in construction it rose an average 38,000 persons (+1.6%). In agriculture, forestry and fishing, the number of persons in employment in 2011 was by 15,000 persons (+2.3%) above the level of the previous year.
 
Examining employment by economic sectors over the longer term shows a remarkable structural change. In 2011 again nearly three quarters of all persons in employment in Germany worked in the service branches. The tertiary sector’s share in the total number of persons in employment rose from 60.9% in 1991 to 73.8% in 2011. Parallel to that, the employment share fell in the primary and secondary sectors over the same period. Only 1.6% of all persons in employment worked in agriculture and forestry in 2011. In 1991, the share of persons in employment of the primary sector in Germany had still been 3.0%. In 2011, just 5.9% of all persons in employment worked in construction, while in 1991 the share had been 7.6%. The largest decrease in the percentage of all persons in employment since 1991 was recorded for industry (excluding construction), that is by almost ten percentage points from 28.5% in 1991 to 18.7% in 2011. In the years 2009 and 2010 alone, the share of industry (excluding construction) was down by one percentage point altogether on account of cyclical employment losses.




Please also note the detailed methodological explanations on the changeover of employment accounts to the WZ 2008 as part of the 2011 national accounts revision.
 
Detailed information and long time series on persons in employment are available free of charge from the table on persons in employment in the GENESIS-Online database.
 
Other current national accounts data on employment by quarters and years and current monthly time series are available on the Tables.


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