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Press release No.056 / 2010-02-18


4th quarter of 2009: Continuing decline of employment


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 40.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2009, which was a decline of 156 000 persons or 0.4% on a year earlier. Consequently, the decrease of employment continued and accelerated in the fourth quarter of 2009. In the third quarter of 2009, the number of persons in employment had dropped by 101 000 persons or 0.2% from a year earlier.

Compared with the third quarter of 2009, the number of persons in employment increased by 245 000 persons (+0.6%) in the fourth quarter. Upon seasonal adjustment, that is, after elimination of seasonal fluctuations, the number of persons in employment decreased by 15 000 persons (–0.0%) between the third and the fourth quarters of 2009.
 
The development by economic sectors showed different employment trends compared with the previous year: In the fourth quarter 2009, the number of persons in employment in industry (including energy) declined by 342 000 persons or 4.2% from a year earlier. Compared with the same period of the previous year, this was the highest decrease of employment in industry since 1994.
Other sectors recorded a slight increase of employment in the fourth quarter of 2009 from the previous year. 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 rose by 172 000 or 0.6% in the fourth quarter 2009 from a year earlier. In construction, some 2.2 million persons in employment were counted in the fourth quarter of 2009, which was 13 000 or 0.6% more than in the fourth quarter of 2008. In agriculture, forestry and fishing, an increase of 1 000 persons in employment or 0.1% was observed in the fourth quarter as compared with the previous year.
 
The number of employees declined by 156 000 (–0.4%) to about 36.2 million persons in the fourth quarter of 2009. In contrast, the number of self-employed including family workers remained virtually constant compared with the previous year, amounting to about 4.4 million self-employed and family workers in the fourth quarter of 2009.
 
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 was down by 0.1% to 355.0 hours in the fourth quarter of 2009 on a year earlier, though there were two more working days than in the same quarter of the previous year. This was mainly due to the use of the short-time work scheme, the rise in part-time employment and the parallel decline in full-time employment. The total number of hours worked, that is, the number of persons in employment multiplied by the hours worked per person in employment, dropped by 0.5% to 14.4 billion hours compared with the fourth quarter of 2008.
 
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 2009, the results published so far (starting with the second quarter of 2009) were revised as part of the regular revision of national accounts. At the level of the overall economy, revising the quarterly employment data resulted in year-on-year change rates which are, at most, 0.1 percentage points higher than in the previous calculation.

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
Persons in employment whose place of employment is in Germany and hours worked 1)
Year,
quarter		Persons in
employment,
total		Agriculture,
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 1,000Hoursmn hours
200639,0758377,8262,17428,2381,429.555,858
200739,7248507,9112,20928,7541,431.056,845
200840,2798608,0302,19329,1961,429.657,583
200940,2658667,8142,20029,3851,389.755,956
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 quarter39,9478087,9242,13329,082354.014,141
2nd quarter40,2018857,8282,19129,297328.113,190
3rd quarter40,3329017,7672,23429,430352.614,221
4th quarter40,5778657,7422,24129,729355.014,405
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
2009–0.00.7–2.70.30.6–2.8–2.8
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 quarter0.50.9–0.7–0.10.8–3.1–2.7
2nd quarter0.10.9–2.20.30.6–5.0–4.9
3rd quarter–0.20.8–3.50.40.6–3.0–3.3
4th quarter–0.40.1–4.20.60.6–0.1–0.5


For further information please call:
Ulf-Karsten Keil,
tel: +49 611 75 2633,



 




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