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Press release No.059 / 2009-02-19


4th quarter of 2008: 1.0% more persons in employment than a year earlier


WIESBADEN – According to provisional results of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the number of persons in employment whose place of employment was in Germany amounted to about 40.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2008, which was by 422,000 persons or 1.0% more than in the fourth quarter of the previous year. Hence the number of persons in employment reached a new peak level since German unification. However, the employment increase has considerably slowed down since the beginning of 2008. In the first three quarters of 2008, the number of persons in employment was above the relevant level of a year earlier by 1.7%, 1.5% and 1.4%, respectively.
 
Compared with the third quarter of 2008, the number of persons in employment in the fourth quarter was up by 270,000 persons (+0.7%). Hence, in 2008, the usual employment gain from the third to the fourth quarter was smaller than the average of the relevant quarters of the previous three years of upturn (+381,000 persons or +1.0%). Upon seasonal adjustment, that is the elimination of seasonal fluctuations, the number of persons in employment rose by 32,000 persons (+0.1%) compared with the previous quarter, following +79,000 persons or +0.2% in the third quarter of 2008.
 
The slowdown in employment growth affected both the service branches and the industry (including energy). In the service branches, the number of persons in employment in the fourth quarter of 2008 was up by 354,000 persons or 1.2% on a year earlier (third quarter of 2008: +469,000 persons or +1.6%). Employment in the industry (excluding construction) rose by 69,000 persons or 0.9% (third quarter of 2008: +109,000 persons or +1.4%). However, in construction (–13,000 persons or –0.6%), on balance, the number of jobs lost was about the same as in the third quarter of 2008
(–15,000 persons or –0.7%). In agriculture and forestry, employment developed against the general trend. There, employment growth amounted to 12,000 persons or 1.4% (third quarter of 2008: +9,000 persons or +1.0%).
 
The overall year-on-year employment growth was almost entirely due to an increase in the number of employees, which in the fourth quarter of 2008 was up by 420,000 persons (+1.2%) to about 36.3 million. However, the number of self-employed including family workers increased just slightly by 2,000 persons to about 4.4 million in the reference quarter.
 
According to first provisional results of the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) of the Federal Employment Agency (BA), the average number of hours worked per person in employment in the fourth quarter of 2008 was down 1.2% to 356.3 hours on a year earlier, although a good half a working day more was available than in the relevant quarter of the previous year. Reasons were especially the reduction of overtime hours and more utilisation of short-time work. At the same time, the total number of hours worked, that is the number of persons in employment multiplied by hours worked per person in employment, was down to 14.5 billion hours (–0.2%).
 
In addition to the first calculation of the number of persons in employment and of the number of hours worked for the fourth quarter of 2008, the results published so far have been revised as part of the regular revisions of national accounts, starting with the third quarter of 2008. Revising the quarterly numbers of persons in employment resulted in year-on-year rates of change which, at the level of the overall economy, were by a maximum of 0.2 percentage points lower compared with the previous state of computation.
 
The current national accounts data on employment by quarters and years are available on the Destatis website.
 
Persons in employment whose place of employment is in Germany
and hours worked 1) 
Year,
quarter		Persons in
employment,
total		Agricul-
ture,
forestry
and
fishing		Industry,
including
energy		ConstructionService
activities2)		Hours worked3)
per
person in employment		by
persons in employment
1) For persons in employment: Annual and quarterly averages.
2) Trade, hotel and restaurant services, transport, financial, renting and business activities, other service activities.
3) Source: Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (Institute for Employment Research) of the Bundesagentur für Arbeit (Federal Employment Agency), Nuremberg.
Persons in 1,000Hoursmillion hours
200538,8518537,8902,18527,9231,434,055,712
200639,0978267,8222,17728,2721,431,755,975
200739,7688457,9102,21228,8011,433,457,003
200840,3308568,0242,19729,2531,431,957,749
20071st quarter39,1617827,8332,15228,394369,214,458
2nd quarter39,6378677,8642,20628,700340,813,508
3rd quarter39,9268827,9342,24328,867362,714,481
4th quarter40,3468498,0102,24529,242360,814,557
20081st quarter39,8157967,9772,13828,904366,014,572
2nd quarter40,2438738,0012,18829,181345,813,916
3rd quarter40,4988918,0432,22829,336363,714,729
4th quarter40,7688618,0792,23229,596356,314,526
Change in % on the corresponding period of the previous year
2005–0.1–2.3–1.6–3.10.7–0.5–0.6
20060.6–3.2–0.9–0.41.2–0.20.5
20071.72.31.11.61.90.11.8
20081.41.31.4–0.71.6–0.11.3
20071st quarter1.92.10.85.22.00.42.4
2nd quarter1.72.51.02.01.80.32.0
3rd quarter1.62.41.30.21.80.01.6
4th quarter1.72.51.5–0.71.9–0.31.4
20081st quarter1.71.81.8–0.71.8–0.90.8
2nd quarter1.50.71.7–0.81.71.53.0
3rd quarter1.41.01.4–0.71.60.31.7
4th quarter1.01.40.9–0.61.2–1.2–0.2


>>> Brief methodological description employment

>>> Brief methodological description hours worked

For further information please call:
Michael Braig
tel. (+49-611) 75-2932,



 




For more details please refer to the German version.


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© Federal Statistical Office of Germany
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Version: 2.25.5 / 20.10.2008