Press release No.371 / 2008-09-30

Solid labour market trend continues

WIESBADEN – As reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on the basis of first calculations for August 2008, the number of persons in employment whose place of residence was in Germanyamounted to 40.27 million. That was an increase by 558,000 persons (+1.4%) on August last year.

In August 2008, the number of persons in employment in Germany amounted to 40.30 million after elimination of the typical seasonal variations. That was a seasonally adjusted increase by 42,000 persons (+0.1%) on July 2008.

Based on the labour force survey, Destatis determines unemployment data according to the concept of the International Labour Organization (ILO). According to provisional estimates, the number of unemployed in August 2008 was a seasonally adjusted 3.10 million. Compared with the same month a year earlier (August 2007), the number of unemployed persons was down by 470,000 or 13.0% when seasonally adjusted. 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 7.2% in Germany and was thus considerably below the level of the corresponding month of the previous year (8.3%).

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 detailed methodological notes on the ILO labour market statistics, the labour force survey and the microcensus.

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. ²⁾ Seasonal adjustment by Census-X12-Arima.
		in million	in %		in million	in %
2007	July	39.595	–0.1	1.5	39.691	0.1
	August	39.713	0.3	1.6	39.742	0.1
	September	40.048	0.8	1.7	39.789	0.1
	October	40.297	0.6	1.8	39.862	0.2
	November	40.332	0.1	1.7	39.892	0.1
	December	40.179	–0.4	1.6	39.938	0.1
2008	January	39.721	–1.1	1.7	40.074	0.3
	February	39.739	0.0	1.6	40.113	0.1
	March	39.853	0.3	1.5	40.155	0.1
	April	40.031	0.4	1.5	40.190	0.1
	May	40.164	0.3	1.4	40.207	0.0
	June	40.199	0.1	1.4	40.221	0.0
	July	40.157	–0.1	1.4	40.256	0.1
	August	40.271	0.3	1.4	40.298	0.1

Unemployed persons whose place of residence is in Germany– seasonally adjusted results ³⁾
Unemployed	August 2008	Previous month		Same month of previous year
Unemployed	August 2008	July 2008	change	August 2007	change
³⁾ Estimated seasonally adjusted unemployment data based on the labour force survey. 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 aged 15 to 74 years living in households, excluded are persons doing compulsory military or alternative civilian service. Subgroups with corresponding breakdown.
Persons	in million		in %	in million	in %
Total	3.10	3.15	–1.5	3.57	–13.0
Men	1.69	1.70	–0.9	1.92	–12.3
Women	1.42	1.45	–2.1	1.64	–13.6
15 to 24-year olds	0.48	0.50	–4.6	0.58	–17.7
25 to 74-year olds	2.62	2.65	–0.9	2.98	–12.0
Unemployment rate ⁴⁾	Shares in %		in %	Shares in %	in %
Total	7.2	7.3	–1.5	8.3	–13.1
Men	7.3	7.4	–1.0	8.4	–12.6
Women	7.1	7.2	–2.0	8.2	–13.7
15 to 24-year olds	9.2	9.6	–4.2	11.0	–16.5
25 to 74-year olds	6.9	7.0	–0.9	7.9	–12.4

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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