Persons in employment in construction occupations down by one fifth – but solo self-employed rising markedly
WIESBADEN – The number of persons in employment in construction operations fell sharply from 1998 to 2008, which was in contrast to the employment growth recorded for the overall economy: It was down by more than one fifth over that period. Women continue to be extremely underrepresented in construction occupations. This is reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) in Wiesbaden on the basis of microcensus results on the occasion of the BAUTEC international trade fair for construction. In 2008, a good 1.7 million persons were employed in construction occupations, which was by 487,000 or 21.9% less than in 1998. The share of men, which had been large even before (1998: 95.5%), rose even more (2008: 96.6%). What is striking is that the number of self-employed without employees – so-called solo self-employed – increased considerably since 1998, which was in contrast to the general trend. For further information please call: Andreas Grau, tel: +49 611 75 2124,
