Press release No.197 / 2011-05-24

Detailed results on the gross domestic product in the 1^st quarter of 2011

WIESBADEN – The German economy started into 2011 with momentum. As already reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) in its first release of 13 May 2011, the gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter of 2011 rose 1.5% on the previous quarter upon price, seasonal and calendar adjustment. Hence the pre-crisis level of early 2008 has already been exceeded. In the fourth quarter of 2010, economic growth had been moderate (+0.4% on the third quarter of 2010), which however was in part due to the weather and, consequently, had a positive effect on the increase in the first quarter of 2011.

Gross domestic product, price-adjusted, chain-linked
(figures adjusted for seasonal and calendar effects using Census X-12-ARIMA)
Changes on a quarter earlier:
2009				2010				2011
1^st quarter	2^nd quarter	3^rd quarter	4^th quarter	1^st quarter	2^nd quarter	3^rd quarter	4^th quarter	1^st quarter
–3.7%	+0.5%	+0.8%	+0.5%	+0.5%	+2.1%	+0.8%	+0.4%	+1.5%

Economic growth in the first quarter of 2011 was based mainly on domestic demand: Both capital formation and final consumption expenditure grew in part considerably. Especially capital formation in construction (+6.2%) and in machinery and equipment (+4.2%) – including also vehicles – were markedly up in early 2011 compared with the last quarter of 2010. Household final consumption expenditure rose slightly (+0.4%) on the previous quarter, while government final consumption expenditure was up more markedly (+1.3%).

The dynamic development of exports and imports continued, too: In the first quarter of 2011, exports of goods and services were up 2.3% on the previous quarter. The increase in imports upon price, seasonal and calendar adjustment was somewhat smaller (+1.5%). The resulting balance of exports and imports contributed 0.5 percentage points to growth and, consequently, had a smaller share in the considerable GDP growth than domestic uses (+1.0 percentage points).

The following information refers to the year-on-year comparison:
In a year-on-year comparison, GDP growth was larger than ever since German unification: The price-adjusted GDP in the first quarter of 2011 rose 5.2% on the first quarter of 2010. When calendar-adjusted, the increase was slightly smaller (+4.9%) because there was one more working day available in the reference quarter than in the first quarter of 2010.

Gross domestic product, price-adjusted, chain-linked (unadjusted figures)
Changes on a year earlier:
2009				2010				2011
1^st quarter	2^nd quarter	3^rd quarter	4^th quarter	1^st quarter	2^nd quarter	3^rd quarter	4^th quarter	1^st quarter
–6.3%	–6.8%	–4.4%	–1.3%	+2.5%	+4.3%	+3.9%	+3.8%	+5.2%

The GDP in the first quarter of 2011 was achieved by 40.4 million persons in employment within the domestic territory, which was an increase of 552,000 persons or 1.4% on a year earlier.

Overall labour productivity (price-adjusted GDP per person in employment) was up by 3.8% in the first quarter of 2011 compared with the first quarter of 2010. When measured per hour worked by persons in employment, labour productivity rose just 2.3% because the average number of hours worked per person in employment was higher (+1.4%) than in the first quarter of 2010. A major reason is an increase in the normal weekly working hours in the overall economy. Also, more time credits on working time accounts were accumulated, whereas short-time work is losing more and more in importance.

The price-adjusted gross value added of all economic sectors increased by 4.7% in the first quarter of 2011 from the first quarter of 2010. The increase was largest in construction (+13.5%). Following the last quarter of 2010, which was weak also due to the weather conditions, there obviously were catch-up effects here in the first quarter of 2011. In industry, including energy, the increase (+11.6%) was considerable again, too. In the service branches, the gross domestic product was up, too, although the increase was less impressive. In trade, transport and communications, gross value added rose a price-adjusted 5.1% on a year earlier, in financial, real-estate, renting and business activities 1.5% and in other service activities 0.7%. Agriculture, hunting and forestry, fishing nearly achieved previous year’s level (–0.0%).

On the use side of the gross domestic product, growth in the first quarter of 2011 was mainly based on domestic demand also when compared with a year earlier. Both consumption expenditure and capital formation were up. Capital formation by general government and businesses was the main reason for the continued upswing of the German economy in early 2011. In the reference quarter, capital formation in machinery and equipment was up a price-adjusted 18.6% on the first quarter of 2010. Capital formation in construction rose markedly (+12.6%), which resulted in particular from the sharp rise in civil engineering (+25.8%). Household final consumption expenditure was above previous year’s level for the third consecutive quarter, rising a price-adjusted 1.9%. General government raised its final consumption expenditure by 1.4%. Total domestic uses thus increased 3.7% on the first quarter of 2010.

Foreign demand had a positive impact on the GDP growth in the first quarter of 2011, too: As a result of the undiminished foreign demand for goods and services, exports were markedly up in price-adjusted terms (+13.5%) on a year earlier also in the first quarter of 2011. However, imports increased sharply, too (a price-adjusted 11.2%). The resulting export surplus contributed +1.6 percentage points to GDP growth.

At current prices, the gross domestic product in the first quarter of 2011 was up by 5.6% and the gross national income by 5.8% on the first quarter of 2010. The net national income (factor costs), which consists of compensation of employees and property and entrepreneurial income, rose 5.9%. While compensation of employees increased by 4.3%, property and entrepreneurial income recorded about twice that increase (+8.7%). The disposable income of households rose 3.1%. Nominal final consumption expenditure of households was up 4.1% on a year earlier. This resulted in a savings ratio of households of 14.5%, which was 0.8 percentage points less than in the first quarter of 2010.

In addition to the first calculation of data for the first quarter of 2011, the results published so far for the four quarters and the year of 2010 were revised at the same time and corrected where necessary. The annual result for 2010 has not changed in this context (+3.6%). The quarterly rates of change of the price-adjusted GDP were corrected by a maximum of 0.2 percentage points. For some GDP components, the corrections are markedly larger. Also, for seasonal and calendar-adjusted series, the new results may differ from the previous results in the entire time series.

This is the last publication of detailed results of German national accounts according to the Classification of Economic Activities 2003 (WZ 2003). With the publication of the detailed results for the second quarter of 2011 on 1 September 2011, national accounts will change over to the new classification WZ 2008. On the occasion of that benchmark revision, all time series from 1991 will be revised and corrected where necessary.

National accounts data may be accessed via the internet. In addition, more detailed results are published in Fachserie 18 "National Accounts", Series 1.2 "Quarterly results" and Series 1.3 "Seasonally adjusted quarterly results using Census X-12-ARIMA and BV 4.1". The above and other publications can be downloaded free of charge at the publications service. A detailed quality report on national accounts is also available.

Gross domestic product
Price-adjusted, chain-linked
		Unadjusted figures		Figures using Census X-12-ARIMA
		Unadjusted figures		Seasonally and calendar-adjusted		Calendar-adjusted¹⁾		Calendar effect
		2000 = 100	%²⁾	2000 = 100	%³⁾	2000 = 100	%²⁾	%²⁾
¹⁾ For years, the calendar-adjusted values are identical with the seasonally and calendar-adjusted values (except for differences due to rounding). ²⁾ Change on the previous year or the same quarter of the preceding year in %. ³⁾ Change on the previous year or quarter in %.
2009		105.18	–4.7	105.09	–4.7	105.09	–4.7	–0.1
2010		109.00	3.6	108.77	3.5	108.78	3.5	0.1
2009	1^st quarter	102.37	–6.3	104.14	–3.7	102.55	–6.6	0.3
	2^ndquarter	104.10	–6.8	104.71	0.5	104.39	–5.6	–1.3
	3^rd quarter	106.95	–4.4	105.50	0.8	106.74	–4.5	0.1
	4^th quarter	107.31	–1.3	106.02	0.5	106.69	–2.0	0.7
2010	1^st quarter	104.90	2.5	106.56	0.5	104.99	2.4	0.1
	2^nd quarter	108.58	4.3	108.81	2.1	108.47	3.9	0.4
	3^rd quarter	111.13	3.9	109.66	0.8	110.94	3.9	–0.0
	4^th quarter	111.40	3.8	110.06	0.4	110.70	3.8	0.1
2011	1^st quarter	110.36	5.2	111.71	1.5	110.12	4.9	0.3

Gross domestic product at current prices
		Unadjusted figures		Seasonally and calendar-adjusted figures using Census X-12-ARIMA
		Euro billion	Change in %¹⁾	Euro billion	Change in %²⁾
¹⁾ Change on the previous year or the same quarter of the preceding year in %. ²⁾ Change on the previous year or quarter in %.
2009		2,397.10	–3.4	2,394.99	–3.3
2010		2,498.80	4.2	2,493.53	4.1
2009	1^st quarter	577.90	–5.2	590.48	–3.2
	2^nd quarter	587.40	–5.7	595.33	0.8
	3^rd quarter	613.10	–2.8	603.00	1.3
	4^th quarter	618.70	0.0	606.18	0.5
2010	1^st quarter	598.00	3.5	610.05	0.6
	2^nd quarter	617.30	5.1	623.32	2.2
	3^rd quarter	639.30	4.3	628.87	0.9
	4^th quarter	644.20	4.1	631.29	0.4
2011	1^st quarter	631.60	5.6	641.98	1.7

Gross domestic product, gross national income and
net national income (factor costs)
Seasonally and calendar-adjusted figures using Census X-12-ARIMA
	2010				2011
	1^st quarter	2^nd quarter	3^rd quarter	4^th quarter	1^st 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	0.5	1.3	0.8	1.0	1.1
Government final consumption expenditure	2.1	–0.4	0.5	–0.0	2.1
Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF)	0.1	6.0	1.6	0.1	5.4
including: GFCF in machinery and equipment	4.4	4.6	4.4	3.0	3.9
GFCF in construction	–2.5	7.7	–0.2	–2.0	7.0
D o m e s t i c u s e s	2.0	2.6	0.6	–0.1	2.1
Exports	4.3	8.1	2.8	2.3	3.1
Imports	8.5	10.0	2.2	1.5	4.1
G r o s s d o m e s t i c p r o d u c t (GDP)	0.6	2.2	0.9	0.4	1.7
Price-adjusted, chain-linked
Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs	0.1	0.7	0.3	0.6	0.4
Government final consumption expenditure	1.5	–0.6	0.8	–0.2	1.3
Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF)	0.4	5.6	1.5	–0.1	5.0
including: GFCF in machinery and equipment	4.6	4.6	4.5	3.2	4.2
GFCF in construction	–2.2	6.7	–0.5	–2.6	6.2
D o m e s t i c u s e s	1.4	2.0	0.5	–0.2	1.1
Exports	4.0	6.8	1.4	1.8	2.3
Imports	6.7	7.1	0.8	0.8	1.5
G r o s s d o m e s t i c p r o d u c t (GDP)	0.5	2.1	0.8	0.4	1.5
memorandum item:
GDP per hour worked by persons in employment¹⁾	–0.1	1.4	–0.1	–0.5	1.4
GDP per person in employment	0.5	1.7	0.5	0.1	1.1
At current prices
Gross national income¹⁾	0.0	1.9	1.1	0.9	1.7
Net national income (factor costs)¹⁾	2.1	1.1	0.7	0.6	3.4
Compensation of employees¹⁾	0.9	1.1	0.8	0.7	1.6
Property and entrepreneurial income¹⁾	4.6	1.1	0.6	0.3	6.8
Disposable income of households¹⁾	1.3	0.9	0.8	0.9	0.7
Contributions to growth of price-adjusted GDP in percentage points
Domestic uses	1.3	1.9	0.5	–0.2	1.0
Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs	0.1	0.4	0.2	0.4	0.2
Government final consumption expenditure	0.3	–0.1	0.2	0.0	0.2
Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF)	0.1	1.0	0.3	0.0	0.9
including: GFCF in machinery and equipment	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.3
GFCF in construction	–0.2	0.7	0.0	–0.3	0.6
Changes in inventories, and so on	0.8	0.6	–0.2	–0.5	–0.4
Balance of exports and imports (net exports)	–0.7	0.2	0.3	0.5	0.5

Gross domestic product, gross national income and
net national income (factor costs)
	2010				2011
	1^st quarter	2^nd quarter	3^rd quarter	4^th quarter	1^st 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	1.5	1.5	2.9	3.7	4.1
Government final consumption expenditure	4.3	2.5	1.9	2.0	2.4
Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF)	–0.2	7.9	7.6	7.9	15.6
including: GFCF in machinery and equipment	0.6	8.6	12.1	17.1	18.1
GFCF in construction	–1.0	8.1	5.7	2.2	15.5
D o m e s t i c u s e s	1.7	5.0	3.8	4.9	5.6
Exports	9.5	22.1	20.5	18.8	17.9
Imports	5.8	24.2	20.9	23.7	19.8
G r o s s d o m e s t i c p r o d u c t (GDP)	3.5	5.1	4.3	4.1	5.6
Price-adjusted, chain-linked
Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs	–0.4	–0.5	0.9	1.8	1.9
Government final consumption expenditure	3.1	1.3	1.7	1.3	1.4
Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF)	0.5	7.9	7.3	7.6	14.5
including: GFCF in machinery and equipment	1.8	9.6	12.9	17.6	18.6
GFCF in construction	–1.1	6.7	4.1	0.8	12.6
D o m e s t i c u s e s	0.4	3.4	2.4	3.5	3.7
Exports	9.0	18.7	16.1	14.9	13.5
Imports	4.6	18.0	13.6	16.0	11.2
G r o s s d o m e s t i c p r o d u c t (GDP)	2.5	4.3	3.9	3.8	5.2
memorandum item:
GDP per hour worked by persons in employment	1.1	1.3	0.6	0.8	2.3
GDP per person in employment	2.7	3.8	3.1	2.7	3.8
At current prices
Gross national income	3.8	5.4	4.0	3.9	5.8
Net national income (factor costs)	7.3	8.2	5.2	4.6	5.9
Compensation of employees	1.3	2.6	3.0	3.3	4.3
Property and entrepreneurial income	19.7	21.5	9.3	7.6	8.7
Disposable income of households	2.2	2.2	3.2	3.9	3.1
Contributions to growth of price-adjusted GDP in percentage points
Domestic uses	0.4	3.2	2.3	3.2	3.5
Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs	–0.2	–0.3	0.5	1.1	1.1
Government final consumption expenditure	0.6	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3
Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF)	0.1	1.4	1.3	1.4	2.2
including: GFCF in machinery and equipment	0.1	0.6	0.8	1.2	1.1
GFCF in construction	–0.1	0.7	0.4	0.1	1.1
Changes in inventories, and so on	0.0	1.8	0.2	0.5	0.0
Balance of exports and imports (net exports)	2.0	1.2	1.5	0.6	1.6

>>> brief methodological description

For further information please contact:
National accounts info team,
tel: +49 611 75 2626,

E-mail: gdp-info@destatis.de

For more details please refer to the German version.

Contact:
tel: (+49-611)75-3444
fax: (+49-611)75-3976
presse@destatis.de
www.destatis.de

Service hours:
Mon - Tue: 8am - 5pm
Fri: 8am - 3pm
CET / CEST

Postal address:
65180 Wiesbaden
Germany

Maximize content (Accesskey 3)

Press release No.197 / 2011-05-24

Detailed results on the gross domestic product in the 1st quarter of 2011

Detailed results on the gross domestic product in the 1^st quarter of 2011