Press release No.445 / 2009-11-24

Detailed results on the economic performance in the 3rd quarter of 2009

WIESBADEN – As reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) already in its first release on 13 November 2009, the gross domestic product (GDP) in the third quarter of 2009 was 0.7% higher than in the previous quarter, upon adjustment for price, seasonal and calendar effects. Hence the slight upward trend observed in the second quarter (+0.4%) seems to continue: The German economy continues its recovery following the heavy slump in the winter half-year.

Gross domestic product, price-adjusted, chain-linked
(figures adjusted for seasonal and calendar effects using Census X-12-ARIMA)
Changes on a quarter earlier:

2008				2009
1st quarter	2nd quarter	3rd quarter	4th quarter	1st quarter	2nd quarter	3rd quarter
1.6%	–0.6%	–0.3%	–2.4%	–3.5%	0.4%	0.7%

Economic growth in the third quarter of 2009 was supported by capital formation: Compared with the previous quarter, capital formation was up 1.5% in construction and 0.8% in machinery and equipment. Following the slump in the first quarter of 2009 (–18.5% on the fourth quarter of 2008), capital formation in machinery and equipment seems to stabilise at a low level. A positive contribution to growth was also made by exports of goods, which were up 4.9% on the previous quarter. However, imports of goods rose again, too (+6.5%), and their increase was larger than that of exports. The resulting balance of exports and imports had a downward effect on growth (negative contribution to growth of –0.5 percentage points). As inventories built up at the same time, however, that effect was more than compensated (contribution to growth: +1.5 percentage points). Total final consumption expenditure turned out to have a slowdown effect on growth: While households spent 0.9% less on consumption than in the months from April to June, government final consumption expenditure increased slightly (+0.1%).

The following information refers to the year-on-year comparison:

In contrast to the quarter-on-quarter comparison, the price-adjusted GDP was markedly down again on a year earlier: In the third quarter of 2009, it was by 4.7% smaller than in the same quarter of the previous year (calendar-adjusted –4.8%). Although the decrease was somewhat smaller than in the second quarter of 2009 (–7.0%, calendar-adjusted –5.8% on a year earlier), the extent of the economic crisis is still obvious.

Gross domestic product, price-adjusted, chain-linked (unadjusted figures)
Changes on a year earlier:

2008				2009
1st quarter	2nd quarter	3rd quarter	4th quarter	1st quarter	2nd quarter	3rd quarter
2.1%	3.4%	1.4%	–1.7%	–6.4%	–7.0%	–4.7%

The economic performance in the third quarter of 2009 was achieved by about 40.4 million persons in employment, which was a decrease of 81,000 persons or 0.2% on a year earlier.

Overall labour productivity (price-adjusted gross domestic product per person in employment) was down by 4.6% in the third quarter of 2009. Hence labour productivity has decreased strongly for one year. One reason is that the difficult economic situation in the last twelve months had only a limited effect on the number of persons in employment; the reduction of overtime and of working time accounts as well as the extension of short-time work helped to avoid dismissals. The decrease of overall labour productivity per hour worked per person in employment (–1.3%) was therefore smaller, as was the case in the previous quarters.

Price-adjusted gross value added of all economic sectors in the third quarter of 2009 was by 5.3% smaller than in the third quarter of 2008. Except for construction as well as other service activities, the performance of the various economic sectors was in part markedly lower than in the same period a year earlier. Particularly for industry (including energy), no recovery was observed yet: The heavy slump of the first six months of the year continued, and price-adjusted gross value added was down 16.5% on the third quarter of 2008. The economic performance in trade, transport and communications decreased by 5.1% on a year earlier and that in financial, real-estate, renting and business activities by 1.7%. Gross value added in agriculture, hunting and forestry, fishing was roughly at previous year’s level (–0.0%), whereas construction (+1.9%) and other service activities (+0.8%) were the only sectors achieving a slight growth in the reference quarter when compared with a year earlier.

On the use side of the gross domestic product, both domestic uses and the balance of exports and imports had a slowdown effect on economic growth when compared with a year earlier. Domestic uses, which consist of final consumption expenditure and gross capital formation, were by 1.7% lower than in the same period of the previous year. That decrease is mainly due to the massive slump of real capital formation in machinery and equipment, which was by roughly one fifth below the value of the relevant period of a year earlier for the third quarter in a row. In the reference quarter, capital formation in machinery, equipment and vehicles was down 20.8% on the third quarter of 2008. Capital formation in construction, however, seems to have recovered a little: Capital formation both in residential and non-residential buildings increased on a year earlier (total of +2.0%). A strong year-on-year reduction of inventories had a negative impact on GDP growth (negative contribution: –0.9 percentage points).

In contrast to gross capital formation, final consumption expenditure made a positive contribution to economic growth (+0.7%). Government final consumption expenditure rose by 2.4%, while final consumption expenditure of households was up just 0.2% on the third quarter of 2008. The positive effect of the so-called scrapping bonus on motor vehicle purchases by households and, consequently, on final consumption expenditure of households was smaller than in the second quarter of 2009. However, the price-adjusted expenditure on transport and communications – private purchases of motor vehicles are allocated to that purpose – was still up 5.0% on the same period a year earlier.

The global economic crisis resulted in a massive slump of foreign demand for German goods and services also in the third quarter of 2009 so that German exports were by 15.4% lower than a year earlier. Hence the decrease was somewhat smaller than in the first two quarters of this year when exports were down 17.2% (January to March) and 20.2% (April to June) in a year-on-year comparison. Imports, too, continued their downward trend. However, it was less marked (–9.9%) than the negative trend of exports so that the balance of exports and imports had a marked negative effect on the economic trend (contribution to growth: –3.2 percentage points).

At current prices, the gross domestic product in the third quarter of 2009 was down by 2.9% on a year earlier, as was the gross national income. The net national income (factor costs), which consists of compensation of employees and property and entrepreneurial income, shrank by 3.0%. Compensation of employees decreased just slightly (–0.6%), whereas property and entrepreneurial income fell by 7.1% on the third quarter of 2008. The disposable income of households, however, rose slightly (+0.2%), which was due to an increase in social benefits. With nearly unchanged (–0.0%) nominal final consumption expenditure, the savings ratio of households was calculated at 9.7%, which was 0.2 percentage points more than in the third quarter of 2008.

In addition to the first calculation of data for the third quarter of 2009, the GDP results published so far for the first two quarters of 2009 were checked and revised where necessary, as new statistical information has become available. This resulted in an upward revision of the GDP rate of change for the second quarter of 2009 by 0.1 percentage points.

The above and other national accounts data may be accessed via the internet (www.destatis.de). In addition, more detailed results are published in Fachserie 18, Series 1.2 “National Accounts Domestic Product, Quarterly results and Series 1.3 “National Accounts -Domestic Product- Seasonally adjusted quarterly results, using Census X-12-ARIMA and BV4.1. Those publications are available free of charge in German language version (XLS and PDF) from the publications service of the Federal Statistical Office. A detailed quality report ( only in German language) on national accounts is also available.

Gross domestic product
Price-adjusted, chain-linked
		Unadjusted figures		Figures according to Census X-12-ARIMA
		Unadjusted figures		Seasonally and calendar adjusted		Calendar adjusted		Calendar effect
		2000 = 100	% ¹⁾	2000 = 100	% ²⁾	2000 = 100	% ¹⁾	% ¹⁾
¹⁾ Change on the same quarter of the preceding year in %. ²⁾ Change on the previous quarter in %.
2006	1st quarter	103.19	3.7	104.38	0.9	102.50	2.4	1.3
	2nd quarter	105.30	1.9	105.92	1.5	105.61	3.2	–1.3
	3rd quarter	107.71	3.0	106.89	0.9	108.09	3.5	–0.4
	4th quarter	108.86	4.0	107.96	1.0	108.95	4.3	–0.2
2007	1st quarter	106.81	3.5	108.31	0.3	106.41	3.8	–0.3
	2nd quarter	107.97	2.5	108.66	0.3	108.34	2.6	–0.0
	3rd quarter	110.32	2.4	109.53	0.8	110.76	2.5	–0.0
	4th quarter	110.45	1.5	109.68	0.1	110.67	1.6	–0.1
2008	1st quarter	109.00	2.1	111.42	1.6	109.54	2.9	–0.9
	2nd quarter	111.61	3.4	110.79	–0.6	110.48	2.0	1.4
	3rd quarter	111.83	1.4	110.44	–0.3	111.67	0.8	0.5
	4th quarter	108.58	–1.7	107.74	–2.4	108.71	–1.8	0.1
2009	1st quarter	102.01	–6.4	103.93	–3.5	102.22	–6.7	0.3
	2nd quarter	103.79	–7.0	104.39	0.4	104.10	–5.8	–1.3
	3rd quarter	106.52	–4.7	105.15	0.7	106.30	–4.8	0.1

Gross domestic product at current prices
		Unadjusted figures		Seasonally and calendar adjusted figures according to Census X-12-ARIMA
		Euro billion	Change in % ¹⁾	Euro billion	Change in % ²⁾
¹⁾ Change on the same quarter of the preceding year in %. ²⁾ Change on the previous quarter in %.
2006	1st quarter	559.90	4.1	569.45	1.1
	2nd quarter	571.10	2.4	579.18	1.7
	3rd quarter	590.30	3.5	584.78	1.0
	4th quarter	603.80	4.8	592.21	1.3
2007	1st quarter	589.70	5.3	601.12	1.5
	2nd quarter	596.70	4.5	605.57	0.7
	3rd quarter	617.20	4.6	611.61	1.0
	4th quarter	624.60	3.4	613.42	0.3
2008	1st quarter	609.70	3.4	626.40	2.1
	2nd quarter	625.60	4.8	626.26	–0.0
	3rd quarter	634.40	2.8	625.26	–0.2
	4th quarter	626.10	0.2	614.42	–1.7
2009	1st quarter	579.50	–5.0	593.40	–3.4
	2nd quarter	589.60	–5.8	598.12	0.8
	3rd quarter	616.00	–2.9	606.83	1.5

Gross domestic product, gross national income and
net national income (factor costs)
Seasonally and calendar adjusted with Census X-12-ARIMA
	2008			2009
	3rd quarter	4th quarter		1st quarter		2nd quarter		3rd quarter
¹⁾ Only seasonally adjusted.
Change on the previous quarter in %
Use of the gross domestic product
At current prices
Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs	1.0	–0.8	0.1		1.2		–0.5
Government final consumption expenditure	0.1	0.8	2.3		0.9		0.7
Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF)	0.9	–2.1	–8.0		0.4		1.2
including: GFCF in machinery and equipment	1.3	–4.2	–18.8		–0.7		0.6
GFCFin construction	0.5	–0.8	0.3		1.0		1.5
D o m e s t i c u s e s	1.4	–1.1	–1.0		–0.7		1.4
Exports	0.3	–8.8	–12.4		–1.8		4.0
Imports	3.9	–8.3	–7.9		–5.9		4.1
G r o s s d o m e s t i c p r o d u c t (GDP)	–0.2	–1.7	–3.4		0.8		1.5
Price-adjusted, chain-linked
Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs	0.3	–0.4	0.9		0.6		–0.9
Government final consumption expenditure	0.1	0.6	1.2		0.6		0.1
Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF)	0.6	–2.0	–7.7		0.7		1.3
including: GFCF in machinery and equipmen	1.5	–3.7	–18.5		–0.5		0.8
GFCF in construction	–0.4	–1.0	0.3		1.3		1.5
D o m e s t i c u s e s	1.2	–0.4	–1.2		–1.4		1.3
Exports	–0.1	–7.9	–10.5		–0.8		3.4
Imports	3.4	–4.2	–5.6		–5.4		5.0
G r o s s d o m e s t i c p r o d u c t (GDP)	–0.3	–2.4	–3.5		0.4		0.7
memorandum item:
GDP--gross domestic product per hour worked by persons in employment ¹⁾	0.3	–1.3	–1.9		1.0		0.0
At current prices
Gross national income ¹⁾	0.0	–2.3	–3.3		0.1		2.8
Net national income (factor costs) ¹⁾	–0.2	–2.3	–4.0		–0.3		3.6
Compensation of employees ¹⁾	0.7	–0.0	–0.5		–0.2		0.1
Property and entrepreneurial income ¹⁾	–1.8	–6.4	–10.8		–0.4		11.3
Disposable income of households ¹⁾	0.3	–0.7	–0.1		1.1		–0.1
Contributions to growth of price-adjusted GDP in percentage points
Domestic uses	1.1	–0.4	–1.1		–1.4		1.2
Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs	0.2	–0.2	0.5		0.4		–0.5
Government final consumption expenditure	0.0	0.1	0.2		0.1		0.0
Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF)	0.1	–0.4	–1.5		0.1		0.2
including: GFCF in machinery and equipment	0.1	–0.3	–1.5		0.0		0.1
GFCF in construction	0.0	–0.1	0.0		0.1		0.2
Changes in inventories, and so on	0.8	0.2	–0.3		–2.0		1.5
Balance of exports and imports (net exports)	–1.4	–2.1	–2.5		1.9		–0.5

Gross domestic product, gross national income and net national income (factor costs)
- Unadjusted figures -
	2008			2009
	3rd quarter	4th quarter		1st quarter		2nd quarter		3rd quarter
Change on the same quarter of the preceding year in %
Use of the gross domestic product
At current prices
Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs	3.0	0.8	0.2		0.7		–0.0
Government final consumption expenditure	3.8	3.6	5.0		4.4		4.7
Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF)	5.7	0.0	–11.0		–11.5		–7.7
including: GFCF in machinery and equipment	5.3	–3.5	–21.1		–24.4		–21.9
GFCF in construction	6.4	3.4	–3.4		–2.0		2.2
D o m e s t i c u s e s	4.3	3.0	–0.8		–2.4		–1.5
Exports	5.3	–5.5	–19.2		–23.1		–18.3
Imports	9.4	–0.1	–12.4		–18.8		–16.8
G r o s s d o m e s t i c p r o d u c t (GDP)	2.8	0.2	–5.0		–5.8		–2.9
Price-adjusted, chain-linked
Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs	0.4	–0.6	0.1		0.7		0.2
Government final consumption expenditure	2.2	2.3	2.8		2.6		2.4
Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF)	4.3	–1.2	–11.1		–11.0		–6.8
including: GFCF in machinery and equipment	5.8	–3.0	–20.1		–23.4		–20.8
GFCF in construction	2.7	0.3	–5.6		–3.0		2.0
D o m e s t i c u s e s	1.8	1.7	–1.3		–2.7		–1.7
Exports	4.2	–5.7	–17.2		–20.2		–15.4
Imports	5.8	1.2	–7.6		–13.0		–9.9
G r o s s d o m e s t i c p r o d u c t (GDP)	1.4	–1.7	–6.4		–7.0		–4.7
memorandum item:
GDP per hour worked by persons in employment	–0.4	–1.5	–3.5		–2.0		–1.3
At current prices
Gross national income	2.7	–0.4	–5.1		–5.3		–2.9
Net national income (factor costs)	2.5	–0.9	–6.5		–6.7		–3.0
Compensation of employees	4.1	3.5	1.1		–0.1		–0.6
Property and entrepreneurial income	–0.2	–9.8	–18.7		–18.7		–7.1
Disposable income of households	3.2	1.0	0.4		0.6		0.2
Contributions to growth of price-adjusted GDP in percentage points
Domestic uses	1.7	1.6	–1.2		–2.5		–1.7
Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs	0.2	–0.3	0.1		0.4		0.1
Government final consumption expenditure	0.4	0.4	0.5		0.5		0.4
Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF)	0.8	–0.2	–1.9		–2.2		–1.3
including: GFCF in machinery and equipment	0.4	–0.3	–1.5		–1.9		–1.6
GFCF in construction	0.3	0.0	–0.5		–0.3		0.2
Changes in inventories, and so on	0.3	1.7	0.2		–1.1		–0.9
Balance of exports and imports (net exports)	–0.4	–3.3	–5.2		–4.5		–3.2

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