Press release No.471 / 2007-11-22

Detailed results on the economic performance in the 3rd quarter of 2007

WIESBADEN – As reported by the Federal Statistical Office already in its first release of 14 November 2007, the upward trend of the German economy increased in the third quarter of 2007: The gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 0.7% on the second quarter of 2007 upon price, seasonal and calendar adjustment. The GDP measures the value of the economic performance within the domestic territory. In the first quarter of 2007, the economic performance grew by 0.5%, in the second quarter by 0.3% on the relevant previous quarters.

Gross domestic product, price-adjusted, chain-linked
(figures adjusted for seasonal and calendar effects using Census X-12-ARIMA)
Changes on a quarter earlier:
2006				2007
1st quarter	2nd quarter	3rd quarter	4th quarter	1st quarter	2nd quarter	3rd quarter
+0.9%	+1.3%	+0.7%	+1.0%	+0.5%	+0.3%	+0.7%

In a quarter-on-quarter comparison, economic growth in the third quarter of 2007 was based on domestic factors: When seasonally and calendar adjusted, private final consumption expenditure was up 0.5% on the previous quarter, capital formation in machinery and equipment rose 0.4% and capital formation in construction increased 0.6%. It should be noted, however, that in the second quarter of 2007 capital formation in construction decreased substantially when seasonally adjusted. Due to the very mild winter, investments that because of the weather can normally be made only in the second quarter were made already in the first quarter in 2007.
The balance of exports and imports had a downward effect on growth because, when compared with the second quarter, imports increased more strongly (+3.9%) than exports (+3.1%).

The following information refers to the year-on-year comparison:

Compared with the third quarter of 2006, the GDP increased a price-adjusted 2.4%. As the third quarter of 2007 had one Sunday more than the third quarter of 2006 – which means that retail trade had one selling day less – there was a slight calendar effect of –0.1 percentage points; when adjusted for calendar effects, the GDP rate of change was +2.5%.

Gross domestic product, price-adjusted, chain-linked (unadjusted figures)
Changes on a year earlier:
2006				2007
1st quarter	2nd quarter	3rd quarter	4th quarter	1st quarter	2nd quarter	3rd quarter
+3.4%	+1.6%	+2.7%	+3.7%	+3.3%	+2.5%	+2.4%

The economic performance in the third quarter of 2007 was achieved by 39.9 million persons in employment, which was an increase of 632,000 persons or 1.6% on a year earlier. The number of employees was up by 583,000 persons (+1.7%) and that of self-employed (including family workers) by 49,000 persons (+1.1%). A particularly strong increase in the number of persons in employment was recorded for the sector of financial, real-estate, renting and business activities where 246,000 more persons were in employment (+3.7%) than in the same quarter of 2006. The industry (including energy) has recorded a rise in employment since the beginning of 2007, following a continuous decrease that started in the third quarter of 2001. While the rates of increase were 0.9% in the first, and 1.1% in the second quarter of 2007, the third quarter saw a 1.4% increase in the number of persons in employment in the industry (including energy) compared with the same quarter a year earlier.

Overall labour productivity (price-adjusted gross domestic product per person in employment) in the third quarter of 2007 increased by 0.8% in a year-on-year comparison. Measured per hour worked, labour productivity rose by 0.9% because the number of hours worked rose a little less strongly (+1.5%) than the number of persons in employment.

As regards the production-side of the price-adjusted gross domestic product, economic growth was based largely on the industry (including energy). Compared with the third quarter of 2006, gross value added in that sector rose 5.6%, following increases by 5.2% and 5.4% in the first and second quarters of 2007, respectively. Positive trends were also observed for the service branches: Trade, transport and communications achieved a 2.8% increase in economic performance compared with a year earlier. Financial, real-estate, renting and business activities recorded a 2.5% increase in the price-adjusted gross value added on the same quarter of the preceding year. Other service activities saw a small 0.4% increase. Economic performance was down on the third quarter of 2006 in construction (–1.0%) and in agriculture, hunting and forestry, fishing (–1.4%). Altogether, price-adjusted gross value added of all economic sectors was up 2.7%.

As regards the use-side of the price-adjusted gross domestic product, capital formation in machinery and equipment was markedly up (+7.1%) on a year earlier. Capital formation in construction recorded a slight decrease (–0.1%) in the third quarter of 2007, following in part large increases for six quarters in a row. This is due to lower capital formation in housing construction.

Overall final consumption expenditure rose a price-adjusted 0.3%. While government final consumption expenditure increased 1.7% in a year-on-year comparison, final consumption expenditure of households was slightly down (–0.1%), which differed from the quarter-on-quarter trend. In the first two quarters, however, final consumption expenditure of households was lower by 0.4% and 0.2%, respectively, than in the same quarter of the preceding year. The main cause of the development of final consumption expenditure of households is probably the decrease in private car purchases. Downward trends were however also recorded for the price-adjusted expenditure on food, beverages and tobacco as well as on housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels. The reasons here include lower demand for tobacco and household energy. Another strong rise was observed, however, for household expenditure on recreation and culture as well as on clothing and footwear.

While the balance of exports and imports did not contribute to economic growth in a quarter-on-quarter comparison, foreign trade again showed a highly dynamic trend compared with the third quarter of 2006: Exports rose much more strongly (+9.0%) than imports (+5.8%). The resulting export surplus (net exports) contributed 1.7 percentage points to economic growth.

At current prices, the gross domestic product was up 4.7% and gross national income was up 5.1% in the third quarter of 2007 compared with a year earlier. Net national income (factor costs), consisting of compensation of employees and property and entrepreneurial income, also increased by 5.1%. Compensation of employees (+2.7%) rose less strongly than property and entrepreneurial income. Following a rather weak second quarter, the latter was up 9.4% in the third quarter of 2007 compared with a year earlier. The increase in disposable income of households (+2.0%) in the reference quarter was somewhat larger than that of nominal final consumption expenditure of households (+1.8%). The savings ratio of households rose from 9.0% in the third quarter of 2006 to 9.3%.

In addition to the first calculation of data for the third quarter of 2007, the results for the production and uses sides of the GDP for the first and the second quarter of 2007 have slightly been changed because new statistical information became available. However, this did not have any impact on the data last published in August 2007 on the price-adjusted GDP in the first and the second quarter, which remained unchanged.

The above and other national accounts data may be accessed via the internet. In addition, more detailed results are published in Fachserie 18 “Volkswirtschaftliche Gesamtrechnungen”, Reihe 1.2 “Vierteljahresergebnisse“ (order number 2180120) and Reihe 1.3 “Saisonbereinigte Vierteljahresergebnisse nach Census X-12-ARIMA und BV4.1“ (order number 2180130). Those publications are available for free download from the Publication service of the Federal Statistical Office. Reihe 1.2 is also available in an English-language version. A detailed quality report on national accounts is available here.

>>> brief methodological description

For further information please contact:
National accounts info team,
tel: (+49-611) 75-2626,

E-mail: gdp-info@destatis.de

Gross domestic product
Price-adjusted, chain-linked
		Unadjusted figures		Figures according to Census X-12-ARIMA
		Unadjusted figures		Seasonally and calendar adjusted		Calendar adjusted		Calendar effect
		2000 = 100	% ¹⁾	2000 = 100	% ²⁾	2000 = 100	% ¹⁾	% ¹⁾
¹⁾ Change on the same quarter of the preceding year in %. ²⁾ Change on the previous quarter in %.
2005	1st quarter	99.31	–0.8	102.05	0.4	99.94	0.2	–1.0
	2nd quarter	103.30	1.6	102.46	0.4	102.18	0.7	0.9
	3rd quarter	104.42	1.3	103.04	0.6	104.33	1.4	–0.1
	4th quarter	104.54	1.0	103.33	0.3	104.43	1.6	–0.6
2006	1st quarter	102.70	3.4	104.21	0.9	102.05	2.1	1.3
	2nd quarter	104.99	1.6	105.58	1.3	105.27	3.0	–1.3
	3rd quarter	107.25	2.7	106.36	0.7	107.67	3.2	–0.5
	4th quarter	108.42	3.7	107.41	1.0	108.56	4.0	–0.2
2007	1st quarter	106.09	3.3	107.99	0.5	105.75	3.6	–0.3
	2nd quarter	107.61	2.5	108.27	0.3	107.95	2.5	–0.0
	3rd quarter	109.84	2.4	109.01	0.7	110.34	2.5	–0.1

Gross domestic product at current prices
		Unadjusted figures		Seasonally and calendar adjusted figures according to Census X-12-ARIMA
		EUR billion	Change in % ¹⁾	EUR billion	Change in % ²⁾
¹⁾ Change on the same quarter of the preceding year in %. ²⁾Change on the previous quarter in %.
2005	1st quarter	537.80	0.1	555.17	0.7
	2nd quarter	558.50	2.1	558.19	0.5
	3rd quarter	571.30	1.9	562.33	0.7
	4th quarter	577.00	1.8	565.16	0.5
2006	1st quarter	558.90	3.9	569.51	0.8
	2nd quarter	571.20	2.3	578.80	1.6
	3rd quarter	590.50	3.4	583.98	0.9
	4th quarter	601.60	4.3	590.99	1.2
2007	1st quarter	586.80	5.0	599.62	1.5
	2nd quarter	597.60	4.6	605.87	1.0
	3rd quarter	618.00	4.7	611.51	0.9

Gross domestic product, gross national income and net national income (factor costs)
Seasonally and calendar adjusted with Census X-12-ARIMA
	2006			2007
	3rd quarter	4th quarter		1st quarter		2nd quarter		3rd quarter
¹⁾ Only seasonally adjusted.
Change on the previous quarter in %
Use of the gross domestic product
At current prices
Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs	0.6	1.3	–1.5		1.3		0.9
Government final consumption expenditure	0.2	0.3	2.3		0.1		–0.0
Gross fixed capital formation	1.7	2.1	4.1		–0.9		0.7
Machinery and equipment	–0.1	1.4	4.0		0.9		0.3
Construction	3.3	2.7	4.8		–2.6		1.0
Other products	0.3	1.7	–2.1		1.8		1.2
D o m e s t i c u s e s	0.8	–1.0	2.7		–0.3		1.0
Exports	3.4	5.1	–0.3		1.6		2.9
Imports	3.5	0.6	2.3		–1.4		3.5
G r o s s d o m e s t i c p r o d u c t (GDP)	0.9	1.2	1.5		1.0		0.9
Price-adjusted, chain-linked
Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs	0.4	0.8	–2.0		0.8		0.5
Government final consumption expenditure	0.5	–0.0	1.8		–0.0		–0.1
Gross fixed capital formation	1.2	1.9	2.1		–1.2		0.6
Machinery and equipment	0.1	2.2	3.8		0.9		0.4
Construction	1.9	1.5	1.4		–3.5		0.6
Other products	1.9	2.5	–2.8		3.6		2.8
D o m e s t i c u s e s	0.7	–0.9	1.7		–0.9		0.9
Exports	3.3	5.3	–0.3		0.8		3.1
Imports	3.5	1.3	2.3		–1.8		3.9
G r o s s d o m e s t i c p r o d u c t (GDP)	0.7	1.0	0.5		0.3		0.7
memorandum item:
GDP per person in employment (labour productivity)	0.4	0.7	–0.3		–0.0		0.4
Gross national income ¹⁾	0.9	1.3	2.1		–0.3		2.0
Net national income (factor costs) ¹⁾	1.3	1.2	1.5		–0.9		3.3
Compensation of employees ¹⁾	0.5	0.3	1.3		0.8		0.3
Property and entrepreneurial income ¹⁾	2.9	2.9	1.7		–4.0		9.0
Contributions to growth of price-adjusted GDP in percentage points
Domestic uses	0.6	–0.9	1.6		–0.8		0.8
Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs	0.2	0.5	–1.1		0.4		0.3
Government final consumption expenditure	0.1	0.0	0.3		0.0		0.0
Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF)	0.2	0.3	0.4		–0.2		0.1
including: GFCF in machinery and equipment	0.0	0.2	0.3		0.1		0.0
GFCF in construction	0.2	0.1	0.1		–0.3		0.1
Changes in inventories, and so on	0.1	–1.6	2.0		–1.1		0.4
Balance of exports and imports (net exports)	0.0	1.9	–1.0		1.1		–0.2

Gross domestic product, gross national income and net national income (factor costs)
	2006			2007
	3rd quarter	4th quarter		1st quarter		2nd quarter		3rd quarter
Change on the same quarter of the preceding year in %
Use of the gross domestic product
At current prices
Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs	1.5	3.1	1.1		1.6		1.8
Government final consumption expenditure	0.4	0.5	2.7		2.9		2.6
Gross fixed capital formation	7.3	8.3	15.3		7.1		5.9
Machinery and equipment	7.1	4.9	9.7		6.8		6.4
Construction	7.9	11.9	22.3		7.9		5.9
Other products	3.6	4.4	2.0		1.9		2.4
D o m e s t i c u s e s	3.3	1.5	3.6		2.2		2.6
Exports	12.3	16.3	10.4		10.0		9.4
Imports	13.2	10.8	7.7		4.9		5.0
G r o s s d o m e s t i c p r o d u c t (GDP)	3.4	4.3	5.0		4.6		4.7
Price-adjusted, chain-linked
Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs	0.4	1.9	–0.4		–0.2		–0.1
Government final consumption expenditure	0.9	0.7	2.2		2.3		1.7
Gross fixed capital formation	6.2	7.1	11.9		3.9		3.1
Machinery and equipment	8.0	6.3	10.6		7.6		7.1
Construction	4.7	7.8	14.4		0.9		–0.1
Other products	6.9	8.3	3.9		5.2		6.0
D o m e s t i c u s e s	2.2	0.7	2.1		0.5		0.8
Exports	10.7	15.6	9.9		9.3		9.0
Imports	10.3	9.2	7.9		5.4		5.8
G r o s s d o m e s t i c p r o d u c t (GDP)	2.7	3.7	3.3		2.5		2.4
memorandum item:
GDP per person in employment (labour productivity)	1.8	2.7	1.4		0.7		0.8
Gross national income	3.5	4.3	5.2		3.8		5.1
Net national income (factor costs)	3.7	4.6	4.7		3.1		5.1
Compensation of employees	2.3	2.3	3.1		3.1		2.7
Property and entrepreneurial income	6.1	10.1	7.5		3.2		9.4
Contributions to growth of price-adjusted GDP in percentage points
Domestic uses	2.1	0.6	2.0		0.5		0.8
Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs	0.2	1.2	–0.2		–0.1		–0.1
Government final consumption expenditure	0.2	0.1	0.4		0.4		0.3
Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF)	1.1	1.3	1.8		0.7		0.6
including: GFCF in machinery and equipment	0.5	0.5	0.7		0.6		0.5
GFCF in construction	0.5	0.7	1.1		0.1		0.0
Changes in inventories, and so on	0.6	–2.0	0.0		–0.6		–0.1
Balance of exports and imports (net exports)	0.7	3.1	1.3		2.0		1.7

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