Press release No.036 / 2012-01-31

December 2011: Number of persons in employment remaining over 41 million

WIESBADEN – The positive development in the labour market continued in December 2011. As reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the number of persons in employment living in Germany (41.4 million) exceeded the 41 million mark again in December 2011. The number of unemployed was about 2.34 million in December 2011, which was some 420,000 less than in December 2010.
According to provisional results of employment accounts, the number of persons in employment rose by 525,000 or 1.3% in December 2011 on December 2010. Compared with November 2011, the number of persons in employment was down by 166,000 or 0.4% in December 2011, which was due to seasonal effects. Seasonal adjustment, that is, the elimination of the usual seasonal fluctuations, leads to an increase of 47,000 people (+0.1%).
In addition to the first calculation of the number of persons in employment for the reference month of December 2011, the monthly employment results published so far were revised back to January 2011 on the basis of all employment statistics currently available. For the recalculated monthly employment figures, year-on-year rates of change were obtained which are no more than 0.1 percentage points higher or lower than the results calculated before. For the annual average number of persons in employment in 2011 (national concept), the revision of the monthly figures resulted in a slight correction of the level (by –4,000 persons; –0.01%) compared with the first preliminary estimate published on 2 January 2012 (see press release no. 1/12). The year-on-year rate of change remains unchanged (+1.3%).
According to results of the labour force survey, the number of unemployed was down 15.2% in December 2011 on December 2010. It declined by 420,000 to 2.34 million. Compared with November 2011, the number of unemployed decreased slightly by 20,000 people or 0.8%. When adjusted for seasonal and irregular effects (trend cycle component), the number of unemployed declined by 30,000 to 2.33 million in December 2011 from November 2011 (–1.3%).
The adjusted unemployment rate was 5.5% in December 2011. Thus it declined by 1.1 percentage points on December 2010. Compared with November 2011, it was down by 0.1 percentage points.
Annual results, quarterly results and more monthly results are here (ILO labour market statistics) (Persons in employment).
Detailed data and long time series are available from the GENESIS-Online database. The data on persons in employment from employment accounts are available in table number 13321-0001 (months) and 81000-0015 (years), data on persons in employment and unemployed persons from the labour force survey in table number 13231-0001 (months) and 81000-0015 (years).
Methodological notes:
Persons in employment and unemployed persons are counted according to the employment status concept of the International Labour Organization (ILO). Therefore, unemployment as shown here must not be confused with registered unemployment as published by the Federal Employment Agency.
The number of persons in employment as obtained in employment accounts and that from the labour force survey differ from each other. The differences are mainly due to the different methods and procedures applied in the two statistical systems.
In employment accounts, the total number of persons in employment is estimated using all sources available (currently about 60 sources). The labour force survey is a continuous household survey (currently integrated in the microcensus), which is conducted every year among one percent of the population in Germany. It involves the obligation to provide information and is harmonised across the EU. The number of persons in employment obtained by the labour force survey is smaller than that of employment accounts because, as experience shows, it is difficult in household surveys to entirely cover smaller activities, for example those performed by pupils and students. According to the international definition, such activities are considered as employment, too. Nevertheless, in the European Statistical System, the results of the labour force survey are used as a standard basis for calculating unemployment rates.
Further methodological notes on monthly unemployment reporting are available at www.destatis.de -> Labour market -> ILO labour market statistics

I. Employment accounts
Persons in employment whose place of residence is in Germany ¹
Year	Month	Original values			Seasonally adjusted ²
Year	Month	persons	change on previous month	change on the same month of the previous year	persons	change on previous month
¹ Results of employment accounts as part of national accounting: persons in employment whose place of residence is in Germany (resident concept). The respective time series for persons in employment whose place of work is in Germany (domestic concept) are presented here. ² Seasonal adjustment by Census X-12-Arima.
		in million	in %		in million	in %
2009	January	40.111	–1.0	0.7	40.405	0.1
	February	40.119	0.0	0.6	40.422	0.0
	March	40.154	0.1	0.4	40.397	–0.1
	April	40.240	0.2	0.4	40.360	–0.1
	May	40.249	0.0	0.1	40.296	–0.2
	June	40.207	–0.1	–0.1	40.253	–0.1
	July	40.173	–0.1	–0.2	40.242	0.0
	August	40.232	0.1	–0.2	40.256	0.0
	September	40.505	0.7	–0.3	40.271	0.0
	October	40.651	0.4	–0.3	40.271	0.0
	November	40.646	0.0	–0.3	40.280	0.0
	December	40.447	–0.5	–0.2	40.295	0.0
2010	January	39.968	–1.2	–0.4	40.264	–0.1
	February	39.958	0.0	–0.4	40.259	0.0
	March	40.095	0.3	–0.1	40.333	0.2
	April	40.294	0.5	0.1	40.402	0.2
	May	40.419	0.3	0.4	40.462	0.1
	June	40.471	0.1	0.7	40.514	0.1
	July	40.463	0.0	0.7	40.535	0.1
	August	40.561	0.2	0.8	40.588	0.1
	September	40.847	0.7	0.8	40.614	0.1
	October	41.039	0.5	1.0	40.658	0.1
	November	41.067	0.1	1.0	40.698	0.1
	December	40.891	–0.4	1.1	40.735	0.1
2011	January	40.486	–1.0	1.3	40.792	0.1
	February	40.546	0.1	1.5	40.857	0.2
	March	40.649	0.3	1.4	40.891	0.1
	April	40.845	0.5	1.4	40.950	0.1
	May	40.960	0.3	1.3	40.998	0.1
	June	41.008	0.1	1.3	41.044	0.1
	July	41.011	0.0	1.4	41.083	0.1
	August	41.067	0.1	1.2	41.095	0.0
	September	41.355	0.7	1.2	41.121	0.1
	October	41.520	0.4	1.2	41.138	0.0
	November	41.582	0.1	1.3	41.208	0.2
	December	41.416	–0.4	1.3	41.255	0.1

II. Labour force survey
Unemployed persons and persons in employment ³
	December 2011	Previous month		Same month of the previous year
	December 2011	November 2011	Change	December 2010	Change
³ Persons in households aged 15 to 74 years, excluding persons performing compulsory military or civilian service. ⁴ Share of unemployed in the labour force (persons in employment and unemployed) aged 15 to 74 years. ⁵ Share of persons in employment in all persons aged 15 to 74 years. ⁶ Trend cycle component (X-12-ARIMA method using Demetra+; calculation by Eurostat).
	Original values
	in million		in %	in million	in %
Unemployed persons	2.34	2.36	–0.8	2.76	–15.2
Persons in employment	40.13	40.26	–0.3	38.98	3.0
	shares in %		in %	shares in %	in %
Unemployment rate ⁴	5.5	5.5	0.0	6.6	–16.7
Employment rate ⁵	63.8	64.0	–0.3	61.7	3.4
	Adjusted results ⁶
	in million		in %	in million	in %
Unemployed persons	2.33	2.36	–1.3	2.74	–15.0
Persons in employment	40.22	40.11	0.3	38.95	3.3
	shares in %		in %	shares in %	in %
Unemployment rate ⁴	5.5	5.6	–1.8	6.6	–16.7
including:
Men	5.6	5.7	–1.8	6.9	–18.8
Women	5.3	5.4	–1.9	6.2	–14.5
Persons aged under 25 years	7.8	8.0	–2.5	9.1	–14.3
Persons aged 25 to 74 years	5.2	5.3	–1.9	6.3	–17.5
Employment rate ⁵	63.9	63.8	0.2	61.7	3.6

>>> Brief methodological description
For further information please contact:
for employment accounts:
Ulf-Karsten Keil,
tel: +49 611 75 2633

for the labour force survey:
Christian Wingerter,
tel: +49 611 75 3496
www.destatis.de/contact

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

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