Press release No.450 / 2008-11-27

No signs of a downward trend on labour market

WIESBADEN – As reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on the basis of first calculations for October 2008, the number of persons in employment whose place of residence was in Germanyamounted to 40.84 million. That was an increase by 538,000 persons (+1.3%) on October 2007 and the highest number of persons in employment ever. But experience shows that it often takes several months for trend changes in the overall economic development to show on the labour market.

Compared with September 2008, an additional 219,000 persons who had their place of residence in Germanywere in employment in October. After eliminating the typical seasonal variations, the number of persons in employment in Germanyamounted to 40.41 million in October 2008. Against September 2008, that was a seasonally adjusted increase by 39,000 persons (+0.1%).

Based on the labour force survey, Destatis determines unemployment figures according to the concept of the International Labour Organization (ILO). According to provisional estimates, the number of unemployed amounted to a seasonally adjusted 3.04 million in October 2008. Compared with October 2007, unemployment was down by a seasonally adjusted 12.6% or by 440,000 persons. 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 7.1% in Germany and was thus notably lower than in the same month one year earlier (8.1%).

More results, including i.a. 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.

>>> 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. ²⁾ Seasonal adjustment by Census-X12-Arima.
		in million	in %		in million	in %
2007	September	40.048	0.8	1.7	39.798	0.1
	October	40.297	0.6	1.8	39.873	0.2
	November	40.332	0.1	1.7	39.904	0.1
	December	40.179	–0.4	1.6	39.950	0.1
2008	January	39.723	–1.1	1.7	40.085	0.3
	February	39.774	0.1	1.7	40.142	0.1
	March	39.926	0.4	1.7	40.205	0.2
	April	40.070	0.4	1.6	40.220	0.0
	May	40.189	0.3	1.5	40.230	0.0
	June	40.233	0.1	1.5	40.252	0.1
	July	40.210	–0.1	1.6	40.301	0.1
	August	40.317	0.3	1.5	40.344	0.1
	September	40.616	0.7	1.4	40.368	0.1
	October	40.835	0.5	1.3	40.407	0.1

Unemployed persons whose place of residence is in Germany– seasonally adjusted results ³⁾
Unemployed	October 2008	Previous month		Same month of previous year
Unemployed	October 2008	September 2008	change	October 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	3.04	3.06	–0.5	3.48	–12.6
Men	1.66	1.66	–0.1	1.88	–11.7
Women	1.38	1.40	–0.9	1.60	–13.6
15 to 24-year olds	0.48	0.48	–0.2	0.57	–15.3
25 to 74-year olds	2.56	2.58	–0.5	2.91	–12.1
Unemployment rate ⁴⁾	Shares in %		in %	Shares in %	in %
Total	7.1	7.1	–0.6	8.1	–12.8
Men	7.2	7.2	–0.2	8.2	–12.0
Women	6.9	6.9	–1.0	8.0	–13.7
15 to 24-year olds	9.3	9.3	–0.2	10.8	–14.3
25 to 74-year olds	6.7	6.8	–0.6	7.7	–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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