Press release No. 282 of 17 August 2017
WIESBADEN – Employment continued to increase in the second quarter of 2017 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 44.2 million, which was again markedly above the previous year's level. Compared with the second quarter of 2016, the number of persons in employment increased substantially by 664,000. As in the first quarter of 2017, the growth rate was 1.5%.
Compared with the first quarter of 2017, the number of persons in employment rose by 475,000 (+1.1%). Actually, seasonal growth in employment is typical in the second quarter of a year due to the general increase in outdoor work in spring. In 2017, however, the increase was higher than the relevant average of the past five years (+429,000 people). After seasonal adjustment, that is, after the elimination of the usual seasonal fluctuations, the number of persons in employment increased by 138,000, or 0.3%, in the second quarter of 2017 compared with the previous quarter.
The year-on-year rise in the total number of persons in employment in the second quarter of 2017 was mainly due to the growth in the service sector. The largest absolute employment gains were recorded for public services, education, health (+224,000 people or +2.1%), followed by business services (+153,000 people or +2.6%) and trade, transport, accommodation and food services (+130,000 people or +1.3%). However, employment continued to decline in financial and insurance activities (-15,000 people or -1.3%). In industry (excluding construction), the number of persons in employment was up by 55,000 (+0.7%) and in construction by 45,000 (+1.8%) in the second quarter of 2017 year on year. In agriculture, forestry and fishing, the number of persons in employment decreased by 9,000 (-1.4%).
Compared with the second quarter a year earlier, the number of employees increased by 690,000 (+1.8%) to 39.9 million in the second quarter of 2017. This growth was based on the continued positive development regarding jobs subject to social insurance contributions.
However, the number of self-employed including family workers decreased by 26,000 ( 0.6%) to 4.3 million in the same period.
According to first provisional results of the Institute for Employment Research of the Federal Employment Agency, the average number of hours worked per person in employment was down 1.9% to 321.2 hours in the second quarter of 2017 compared with the same quarter of 2016.
The total number of hours worked, that is, the number of persons in employment multiplied by the hours worked per person in employment, decreased by 0.4% to roughly 14.2 billion hours in the same period.
In addition to the first calculation of the number of persons in employment and the number of hours worked for the second quarter of 2017, the results published so far for the individual quarters from the first quarter of 2013 were recalculated as part of the regular revision of national accounts. The recalculation resulted, at the level of the overall economy, in year-on-year change rates of the quarterly employment data that differ by a maximum of 0.1 percentage points (upwards or downwards) from the results published earlier.
| Year, Quarter 1 | Persons in employment 2 | Hours worked 3 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Employees | Self- employed 4 | by persons in employment | per person in employment | ||
| Persons in 1,000 | mn hours | hours | ||||
| 1 For persons in employment: annual and/or quarterly averages. 2 Results of employment accounts as part of national accounts; persons in employment whose place of employment is in Germany (domestic concept). 3 Source: Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (Institute for Employment Research) of the Bundesagentur für Arbeit (Federal Employment Agency), Nuremberg. 4 Including family workers. qtr = quarter | ||||||
| 2014 | 42,672 | 38,260 | 4,412 | 58,336 | 1,367.1 | |
| 2015 | 43,069 | 38,710 | 4,359 | 58,923 | 1,368.1 | |
| 2016 | 43,638 | 39,305 | 4,333 | 59,286 | 1,358.6 | |
| 2014 | 1st qtr | 42,220 | 37,796 | 4,424 | 14,801 | 350.6 |
| 2nd qtr | 42,641 | 38,210 | 4,431 | 13,764 | 322.8 | |
| 3rd qtr | 42,861 | 38,436 | 4,425 | 14,964 | 349.1 | |
| 4th qtr | 42,965 | 38,598 | 4,367 | 14,807 | 344.6 | |
| 2015 | 1st qtr | 42,517 | 38,154 | 4,363 | 14,872 | 349.8 |
| 2nd qtr | 42,998 | 38,627 | 4,371 | 13,899 | 323.3 | |
| 3rd qtr | 43,286 | 38,908 | 4,378 | 15,071 | 348.2 | |
| 4th qtr | 43,476 | 39,150 | 4,326 | 15,082 | 346.9 | |
| 2016 | 1st qtr | 43,096 | 38,758 | 4,338 | 14,810 | 343.7 |
| 2nd qtr | 43,557 | 39,206 | 4,351 | 14,262 | 327.4 | |
| 3rd qtr | 43,832 | 39,481 | 4,351 | 15,166 | 346.0 | |
| 4th qtr | 44,066 | 39,773 | 4,293 | 15,047 | 341.5 | |
| 2017 | 1st qtr | 43,746 | 39,443 | 4,303 | 15,287 | 349.5 |
| 2nd qtr | 44,221 | 39,896 | 4,325 | 14,205 | 321.2 | |
| Change in % on the corresponding period of the previous year | ||||||
| 2014 | 0.8 | 1.1 | –1.2 | 1.2 | 0.3 | |
| 2015 | 0.9 | 1.2 | –1.2 | 1.0 | 0.1 | |
| 2016 | 1.3 | 1.5 | –0.6 | 0.6 | –0.7 | |
| 2014 | 1st qtr | 0.8 | 1.0 | –1.1 | 2.5 | 1.7 |
| 2nd qtr | 0.9 | 1.2 | –1.3 | 0.3 | –0.6 | |
| 3rd qtr | 0.8 | 1.1 | –1.1 | 0.6 | –0.2 | |
| 4th qtr | 0.8 | 1.0 | –1.3 | 1.2 | 0.4 | |
| 2015 | 1st qtr | 0.7 | 0.9 | –1.4 | 0.5 | –0.2 |
| 2nd qtr | 0.8 | 1.1 | –1.4 | 1.0 | 0.2 | |
| 3rd qtr | 1.0 | 1.2 | –1.1 | 0.7 | –0.3 | |
| 4th qtr | 1.2 | 1.4 | –0.9 | 1.9 | 0.7 | |
| 2016 | 1st qtr | 1.4 | 1.6 | –0.6 | –0.4 | –1.7 |
| 2nd qtr | 1.3 | 1.5 | –0.5 | 2.6 | 1.3 | |
| 3rd qtr | 1.3 | 1.5 | –0.6 | 0.6 | –0.6 | |
| 4th qtr | 1.4 | 1.6 | –0.8 | –0.2 | –1.6 | |
| 2017 | 1st qtr | 1.5 | 1.8 | –0.8 | 3.2 | 1.7 |
| 2nd qtr | 1.5 | 1.8 | –0.6 | –0.4 | –1.9 | |
| Sector of economic activity 2 | 2016 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st qtr | 2nd qtr | 3rd qtr | 4th qtr | 1st qtr | 2nd qtr | ||
| Persons in 1,000 | |||||||
| 1 Results of employment accounts as part of national accounts (domestic concept); annual and quarterly averages. 2 Classification of Economic Activities, 2008 edition (WZ 2008). | |||||||
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 619 | 591 | 657 | 636 | 590 | 577 | 648 |
| Industry, excluding construction | 8,108 | 8,065 | 8,080 | 8,130 | 8,155 | 8,116 | 8,135 |
| including: | |||||||
| Manufacturing | 7,539 | 7,502 | 7,513 | 7,559 | 7,581 | 7,545 | 7,563 |
| Construction | 2,450 | 2,390 | 2,448 | 2,483 | 2,485 | 2,429 | 2,493 |
| Trade, transport, accommodation and food services | 9,976 | 9,829 | 9,948 | 10,021 | 10,074 | 9,946 | 10,078 |
| Information and communication | 1,240 | 1,224 | 1,235 | 1,246 | 1,257 | 1,267 | 1,280 |
| Financial and insurance activities | 1,179 | 1,181 | 1,177 | 1,179 | 1,183 | 1,169 | 1,162 |
| Real estate activities | 468 | 466 | 466 | 468 | 473 | 473 | 474 |
| Business services | 5,903 | 5,787 | 5,887 | 5,964 | 5,990 | 5,945 | 6,040 |
| Public services, education, health | 10,735 | 10,641 | 10,703 | 10,719 | 10,875 | 10,872 | 10,927 |
| Other services | 2,960 | 2,922 | 2,956 | 2,986 | 2,984 | 2,952 | 2,984 |
| Change in % on the corresponding period of the previous year | |||||||
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | –2.8 | –3.3 | –3.0 | –2.9 | –2.6 | –2.4 | –1.4 |
| Industry, excluding construction | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.7 |
| including: | |||||||
| Manufacturing | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.7 |
| Construction | 0.9 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 1.6 | 1.8 |
| Trade, transport, accommodation and food services | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 |
| Information and communication | 1.8 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 2.7 | 3.5 | 3.6 |
| Financial and insurance activities | –0.7 | –0.5 | –0.4 | –0.6 | –0.8 | –1.0 | –1.3 |
| Real estate activities | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 1.7 |
| Business services | 2.3 | 2.7 | 2.5 | 2.1 | 2.4 | 2.7 | 2.6 |
| Public services, education, health | 2.4 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 2.4 | 2.3 | 2.2 | 2.1 |
| Other services | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 0.9 |
The current national accounts data on employment by quarters and years and the current monthly time series are available on the labour market web pages.
Detailed data and long time series on persons in employment and the number of hours worked are available in the GENESIS-Online database in the tables on national accounts of the Federation (81000-0012 and 81000-0016) and on the labour market (13321).