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Press release No.305 / 2009-08-20


2nd quarter of 2009: Employment below previous year’s level


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 40.2 million in the second quarter of 2009, which was by about 25,000 persons or 0.1% less than a year earlier. Against the background of the currently weak economic situation, this was the first time since the third quarter of 2005 that the number of persons in employment in Germany decreased on a year earlier.

Compared with the previous quarter, a seasonal increase in employment was recorded, which is normal for the second quarter of any year. However, that increase was smaller than in the previous years. The growth in the second quarter of 2009 (+215,000 persons or +0.5%) was about half that of the second quarter last year (+416,000 persons or +1.0%). It was thus the smallest increase since 1994 (+142,000 persons or +0.4%) in any second quarter.

Upon seasonal adjustment, that is the elimination of seasonal fluctuations, the number of persons in employment in the second quarter of 2009 decreased on the previous quarter by 105,000 persons (–0.3%). Thus the decrease was even larger than in the first quarter (–34,000 persons or –0.1%).
 
Examining the development by economic sectors shows different employment trends on the previous year: While decreases were recorded for industry (including energy) and construction, an increase was observed for services and agriculture. In the service sector (consisting of trade, hotels and restaurants, transport, financial intermediation, renting and business services as well as other service activities) the number of persons in employment was up by 128,000 persons or 0.4% in the second quarter of 2009 compared with a year earlier, following an increase by 219,000 persons or 0.8% in the first quarter of 2009. In agriculture, forestry and fishing, the number of persons in employment in the second quarter of 2009 grew by 11,000 persons or 1.3% on a year earlier (first quarter of 2009: +13,000 persons or +1.6%). In industry (including energy), the number of persons in employment in the second quarter of 2009 was down by 144,000 or 1.8% on a year earlier (first quarter of 2009: –51,000 persons or –0.6%). In construction the downward trend in employment observed since the fourth quarter of 2007 continued: In the second quarter of 2009 (–20,000 persons or –0.9%), the number of jobs lost on the previous year in that branch was four times that of the previous quarter.

The number of employees in the second quarter of 2009 rose slightly by 15,000 (+0.04%) to 35.7 million persons. The number of self-employed including family workers decreased on a year earlier to about 4.4 million (–40,000 persons or –0.9%). A major reason is 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 second quarter of 2009 was down by 4.8% to 328.8 hours on a year earlier. Major reasons were the fact that the number of working days available in the second quarter of 2009 was by three days smaller than in the same quarter a year earlier and that short-time work was much utilised. 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 by 4.8% to 13.2 billion hours.

In addition to the first calculation of the number of persons in employment and of the number of hours worked for the second quarter of 2009, the results published so far for the last four years (from 2005) have been revised as part of the regular revisions of national accounts. The main purpose of such routine revisions is to include into the calculations new statistical data that have become available. At the level of the overall economy, revising the employment data previously published resulted in a need for change of a maximum of 0.3% for the first quarterly result of 2009 compared with the previous state of computation, which indicates a slightly better trend than previously reported. For the earlier period of revision up to the third quarter of 2008, slight downward corrections of a maximum of –0.1 percentage points in relation to the quarterly rates of change published previously were performed and for the fourth quarter of 2008 a slight correction by 0.1 percentage points upwards.
 
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
200538,8358537,8942,17927,9091,434.155,693
200639,0758377,8262,17428,2381,429.555,858
200739,7248507,9112,20928,7541,431.056,845
200840,2798608,0302,19329,1961,429.657,583
20071st quarter39,1167847,8342,15128,347368.614,418
2nd quarter39,5948717,8642,20428,655340.213,470
3rd quarter39,8868887,9352,24028,823362.114,443
4th quarter40,3008538,0142,24229,191360.214,516
20081st quarter39,7648017,9802,13528,848365.314,526
2nd quarter40,1808778,0082,18529,110345.213,870
3rd quarter40,4338948,0502,22429,265363.614,701
4th quarter40,7338648,0842,22829,557355.514,481
20091st quarter39,9408147,9292,13029,067353.814,131
2nd quarter40,1558887,8642,16529,238328.813,203
Change in % on the corresponding period of the previous year
20060.6–1.9–0.9–0.21.2–0.30.3
20071.71.61.11.61.80.11.8
20081.41.21.5–0.71.5–0.11.3
20071st quarter1.80.80.75.11.90.42.2
2nd quarter1.71.40.92.01.80.32.0
3rd quarter1.61.61.20.11.80.01.6
4th quarter1.61.91.4–0.61.9–0.31.4
20081st quarter1.72.21.9–0.71.8–0.90.7
2nd quarter1.50.71.8–0.91.61.53.0
3rd quarter1.40.71.4–0.71.50.41.8
4th quarter1.11.30.9–0.61.3–1.3–0.2
20091st quarter0.41.6–0.6–0.20.8–3.1–2.7
2nd quarter–0.11.3–1.8–0.90.4–4.8–4.8


The current national accounts data on employment by quarters and years are available on the Destatis website.

>>> Brief methodological description employment

>>> Brief methodological description hours worked

For further information please call:
Christoph-Martin Mai,
tel. (+49-611) 75-3378,



 




For more details please refer to the German version.


Publisher:
© Federal Statistical Office of Germany
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Version: 2.25.5 / 20.10.2008