Press release No.198 / 2008-05-29

Positive trend on the labour market continues

WIESBADEN – As reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on the basis of first calculations for April 2008, the number of persons in employment whose place of residence was in Germanyamounted to 40.08 million. That was an increase by 650,000 persons (+1.6%) on April last year. Compared with March 2008, the number of persons in employment rose by 153,000 (+0.4%) in April 2008.

So the positive trend in overall employment continues which could be observed for about two years now. It is true that in April the increase in employment was somewhat smaller against the previous year than in the months before (both in March and February 2008 it had amounted to + 1.8% compared with the same month one year earlier). The reason is, however, that particularly favourable employment figures had been recorded for those months. The mild winter on the one hand and an increased utilisation of the seasonal short-time working allowance on the other will have contributed to that result. The allowance is available only during the period 1 December to 31 March.

In April 2008, the number of persons in employment in Germanyamounted to 40.25 million after seasonal adjustment, that is after elimination of the typical seasonal variations. That was a seasonally adjusted increase by 27,000 (+0.1%) on March 2008.

Based on the labour force survey, Destatis determined a seasonally adjusted 3.19 million unemployed for April 2008. That figure, which is a provisional estimate, was calculated according to the concept of the International Labour Organization (ILO). Compared with the same month a year earlier (April 2007), the number of unemployed was down by 480,000 persons or 13.1%. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate – which is harmonised across the EU and measured as the share of unemployed in the total labour force – amounted to 7.4% in Germany and was thus considerably below the level of the corresponding month of the previous year (8.5%).

More results, including among others the original unemployment data which have not been seasonally adjusted, can be accessed on the internet. Here, you will also find more detailed methodological notes on the ILO labour market statistics, the labour force survey and the microcensus.

>>> brief methodological description

Persons in employment whose place of residence is in Germany ¹⁾
Year	Month	Original values			Seasonally adjusted ²⁾
Year	Month	persons	change on previous month	change on the same month of the previous year	persons	change on previous month
¹⁾ Results of employment accounts as part of national accounting: persons in employment whose place of residence is in Germany (resident concept). The respective time series for persons in employment whose place of work is in Germany (domestic concept) are presented on the Internet at http://www.destatis.de. ²⁾ Seasonal adjustment by Census-X12-Arima.
		in million	in %		in million	in %
2007	March	39.241	0.4	1.9	39.527	0.2
	April	39.431	0.5	1.9	39.592	0.2
	May	39.573	0.4	1.7	39.624	0.1
	June	39.618	0.1	1.5	39.635	0.0
	July	39.585	–0.1	1.5	39.678	0.1
	August	39.704	0.3	1.6	39.739	0.2
	September	40.044	0.9	1.7	39.789	0.1
	October	40.293	0.6	1.8	39.867	0.2
	November	40.377	0.2	1.8	39.932	0.2
	December	40.250	–0.3	1.8	40.000	0.2
2008	January	39.729	–1.3	1.8	40.090	0.2
	February	39.785	0.1	1.8	40.156	0.2
	March	39.928	0.4	1.8	40.219	0.2
	April	40.081	0.4	1.6	40.246	0.1

Unemployed persons whose place of residence is in Germany– seasonally adjusted results ³⁾
Unemployed	April 2008	Previous month		Same month of previous year
Unemployed	April 2008	March 2008	change	April 2007	Change
³⁾ Estimated seasonally adjusted unemployment data based on the labour force survey. Please note the methodical explanations on the following page. Provisional results. ⁴⁾ Share of unemployed persons in the total labour force (persons in employment and unemployed) according to the European definition: Persons in employment and unemployed persons in households from 15 years of age or from 15 to 74 years (unemployed) as well as persons in employment excluding persons doing compulsory military service and conscripts on compulsory community service. Sub-groups defined accordingly.
Persons	in million		in %	in million	in %
Total	3.19	3.19	–0.1	3.67	–13.1
Men	1.71	1.70	0.6	1.96	–12.8
Woman	1.48	1.49	–0.9	1.71	–13.4
15 to 24-year olds	0.51	0.51	–0.2	0.58	–11.5
25 to 74-year olds	2.68	2.68	–0.1	3.10	–13.4
Unemployment rate ⁴⁾	Shares in %		in %	Shares in %	in %
Total	7.4	7.4	–0.1	8.5	–13.5
Men	7.4	7.4	0.5	8.5	–13.1
Woman	7.3	7.4	–0.8	8.5	–13.8
15 to 24-year olds	9.8	9.8	0.0	11.0	–11.1
25 to 74-year olds	7.1	7.1	–0.2	8.2	–13.8

For further information please contact:
For „employment“:
Stephan Lüken,
tel: (+49-611) 75-2016,

For „unemployment“:
Thomas Körner,
tel: (+49-611) 75-4413,

E-mail: arbeitsmarkt@destatis.de

For more details please refer to the German version.

Contact:
tel: (+49-611)75-3444
fax: (+49-611)75-3976
presse@destatis.de
www.destatis.de

Service hours:
Mon - Tue: 8am - 5pm
Fri: 8am - 3pm
CET / CEST

Postal address:
65180 Wiesbaden
Germany

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