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Press release No.192 / 2009-05-20


1st quarter of 2009: Number of persons in employment falling to under 40 million


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 39.9 million in the first quarter of 2009. Hence the number of persons in employment was below 40 million for the first time in three quarters. Compared with the first quarter of the previous year, a small increase by 48,000 persons or 0.1% was recorded. It should be taken into account here that the wider utilisation of short-time work based on the economic situation counteracted the negative effects of the recession on the employment trend.
 
Compared with the fourth quarter of 2008, the number of persons in employment in the first quarter of 2009 was down by 905,000 persons (–2.2%). Although an employment decrease in the first quarter of any year is normal, the decrease in employment in the reference quarter was markedly larger than the average of the relevant quarters of 2007 and 2008 (–525,000 or –1.3%). At that time, too, employment in the winter months was additionally supported by the seasonal short-time working allowance, which had been introduced at the end of 2006.

Upon seasonal adjustment, that is the elimination of seasonal fluctuations, the number of persons in employment in the first quarter of 2009 decreased on the previous quarter – for the first time in three years – by 119,000 persons (–0.3%).

Examining the development by economic sectors shows different employment trends: Job growths were again recorded in the service sector as a whole. There the number of persons in employment in the first quarter of 2009 was up on a year earlier by 119,000 persons or 0.4% (fourth quarter of 2008: +354,000 persons or +1.2%). However, in the industry (including energy), employment was down for the first time in nine quarters, that is by 55,000 persons or 0.7% (fourth quarter of 2008: +69,000 persons or +0.9%). Employment in construction continued its negative trend. On balance, more jobs were lost (–23,000 persons or –1.1%) than in the fourth quarter of 2008 (–13,000 persons or –0.6%). Slight job gains (+7,000 persons or +0.9%) were recorded in agriculture and forestry (fourth quarter of 2008: +12,000 persons or +1.4%).

The overall year-on-year rise in employment was entirely due to an increase in the number of employees, which in the first quarter of 2009 was up by 67,000 persons (+0.2%) to 35.4 million. The number of self-employed including family workers in the reference quarter decreased on a year earlier for the first time in nine and a half years to about 4.4 million (–19,000 persons or –0.4%), which was also due to the decrease in supported self-employment.
 
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 first quarter of 2009 was down by 3.1% to 354.8 hours on a year earlier, although a good half a working day more was available than in the same quarter a year earlier. Major reasons were the reduction of overtime and the strong utilisation of short-time work. The total number of hours worked, that is the number of persons in employment multiplied by hours worked per person in employment, was down by 2.9% to 14.1 billion hours.

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
activities 2)		Hours worked 3)
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 1,000Hoursmn hours
200639,0978267,8222,17728,2721,431,755,975
200739,7688457,9102,21228,8011,433,457,003
200840,3308568,0242,19729,2531,431,357,724
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 quarter40,4988918,0432,22829,336363,614,725
4th quarter40,7688618,0792,23229,596355,914,509
20091st quarter39,8638037,9222,11529,023354,814,143
Change in % on the corresponding period of the previous year
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 quarter1.41.01.4–0.71.60.21.7
4th quarter1.01.40.9–0.61.2–1.4–0.3
20091st quarter0.10.9–0.7–1.10.4–3.1–2.9


>>> 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