According to provisional results of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the number of persons in employment whose place of residence is in Germanyamounted to 40.3 million in December 2009. That is a decline by 211,000 persons or 0.5% against December 2008. Hence the year-on-year decrease in the number of persons in employment slowed down. The year-on-year decline observed in October 2009 (–281,000 persons or –0.7%) has so far been the largest in the context of the current economic weakness. However, it would be premature to consider the development in December 2009 as a trend reversal on the German labour market.
