Press release No. 390 of 2 November 2016
WIESBADEN – In September 2016, roughly 43.7 million persons resident in Germany were in employment according to provisional calculations of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). Compared with the same month a year earlier, the number of persons in employment increased by 376,000, or 0.9%. Although employment continued to increase year on year in the summer months, it did so at a slower pace than in the first two quarters of 2016. Especially employment subject to social insurance contributions could not continue its upward trend to the same extent as before. Roughly 1.7 million people were unemployed in September 2016, 157,000 fewer than a year earlier.
According to provisional results of the employment accounts, the number of persons in employment in September 2016 rose by 214,000, or 0.5%, on the previous month, which was due to the beginning autumn upturn. The increase on August was slightly higher than the relevant average of the past five years (+205,000 people). After seasonal adjustment, that is, after the elimination of the usual seasonal fluctuations, the number of persons in employment increased by 31,000, or 0.1%, in September 2016 month on month.
In addition to the first calculation of the number of persons in employment for the reference month of September 2016, the provisional monthly employment results were recalculated for the year 2016. This involved taking account of all sources of employment statistics that had additionally become available until the time of calculation. For the monthly employment figures, the recalculation resulted in year-on-year change rates which are by a maximum of 0.1 percentage points higher or 0.3 percentage points lower than the results published earlier.
Results of the labour force survey show that 1.65 million people were unemployed in September 2016. Compared with the same month a year earlier, the number declined by 157,000 or 8.8%. Adjusted for seasonal and irregular effects, the number of unemployed stood at 1.77 million, which was a decline of roughly 15,000 on a month earlier. The adjusted unemployment rate was 4.1% in September 2016.
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 tables 13321-0001 (months), 13321-0002 (quarters) and 81000-0011 (years). Data on persons in employment and unemployed persons from the labour force survey can be found in tables 13231-0001 (months).
| Year | Month | Original values | Seasonally adjusted 2 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| persons | change on previous month | change on the same month of the previous year | persons | change on previous month | ||
| in million | in % | in million | in % | |||
| 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. | ||||||
| 2014 | January | 42.159 | – 0.7 | 0.7 | 42.465 | 0.2 |
| February | 42.202 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 42.507 | 0.1 | |
| March | 42.315 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 42.524 | 0.0 | |
| April | 42.474 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 42.568 | 0.1 | |
| May | 42.570 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 42.568 | 0.0 | |
| June | 42.621 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 42.592 | 0.1 | |
| July | 42.641 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 42.631 | 0.1 | |
| August | 42.660 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 42.632 | 0.0 | |
| September | 42.858 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 42.655 | 0.1 | |
| October | 42.969 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 42.686 | 0.1 | |
| November | 42.964 | –0.0 | 0.7 | 42.679 | –0.0 | |
| December | 42.781 | –0.4 | 0.7 | 42.715 | 0.1 | |
| 2015 | January | 42.429 | –0.8 | 0.6 | 42.741 | 0.1 |
| February | 42.471 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 42.777 | 0.1 | |
| March | 42.634 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 42.836 | 0.1 | |
| April | 42.792 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 42.881 | 0.1 | |
| May | 42.913 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 42.907 | 0.1 | |
| June | 42.992 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 42.956 | 0.1 | |
| July | 43.023 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 43.008 | 0.1 | |
| August | 43.070 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 43.048 | 0.1 | |
| September | 43.282 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 43.080 | 0.1 | |
| October | 43.386 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 43.104 | 0.1 | |
| November | 43.458 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 43.175 | 0.2 | |
| December | 43.302 | –0.4 | 1.2 | 43.237 | 0.1 | |
| 2016 | January | 42.946 | –0.8 | 1.2 | 43.266 | 0.1 |
| February | 43.008 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 43.318 | 0.1 | |
| March | 43.169 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 43.368 | 0.1 | |
| April | 43.286 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 43.373 | 0.0 | |
| May | 43.423 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 43.415 | 0.1 | |
| June | 43.476 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 43.435 | 0.0 | |
| July | 43.438 | –0.1 | 1.0 | 43.421 | –0.0 | |
| August | 43.444 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 43.425 | 0.0 | |
| September | 43.658 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 43.456 | 0.1 | |
| 1 Persons in households aged 15 to 74 years. Extrapolated on the basis of key population figures from the 2011 Census. 2 Share of unemployed in the labour force (persons in employment and unemployed) aged 15 to 74 years. 3 Share of persons in employment in all persons aged 15 to 74 years. 4 Trend cycle component (X-12-ARIMA method using Demetra+; calculation by Eurostat). | |||||
| September 2016 | Previous month | Same month of the previous year | |||
| August 2016 | Change | September 2015 | Change | ||
| Original values | |||||
| in million | in % | in million | in % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unemployed persons | 1.65 | 1.80 | –8.3 | 1.81 | –8.8 |
| Persons in employment | 41.81 | 41.42 | 0.9 | 40. 39 | 3.5 |
| shares in % | in % | shares in % | in % | ||
| Unemployment rate 2 | 3.8 | 4.2 | –9.5 | 4.3 | –11.6 |
| Employment rate 3 | 66.9 | 66.3 | 0.9 | 65.7 | 1.8 |
| Adjusted results 4 | |||||
| in million | in % | in million | in % | ||
| Unemployed persons | 1.77 | 1.78 | –0.6 | 1.90 | –6.8 |
| Persons in employment | 41.34 | 41.25 | 0.2 | 40.12 | 3.0 |
| shares in % | in % | shares in % | in % | ||
| Unemployment rate 2 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 0.0 | 4.5 | –8.9 |
| including: | |||||
| Men | 4.4 | 4.4 | 0.0 | 4.8 | –8.3 |
| Women | 3.8 | 3.8 | 0.0 | 4.1 | –7.3 |
| Persons aged under 25 years | 6.8 | 6.9 | –1.4 | 7.1 | –4.2 |
| Persons aged 25 to 74 years | 3.8 | 3.8 | 0.0 | 4.2 | –9.5 |
| Employment rate 3 | 66.1 | 66.0 | 0.2 | 65.3 | 1.2 |
Methodological notes:
As of reference month January 2016, a new sampling frame based on the results of the 2011 Census has been used for the sample of the microcensus and the integrated labour force survey. As a result of the changeover, comparability over time with microcensus results of previous years may be limited. Studying in depth the potential effects of introducing the new sampling frame will be possible only when more results become available.
The number of persons in employment as obtained in the employment accounts and that from the labour force survey differ. The differences are due to the different concepts applied in the two statistical systems. For more information on the background of the differences in results between the labour force survey and the employment accounts.
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. In the European Statistical System, the results of the labour force survey are used as a standard basis for calculating unemployment rates.
Annual results, quarterly results and more monthly results are available: Employment.
Under “Unemployment”, the results adjusted by means of the Berlin method (BV4.1) are additionally available (trend cycle component).