Press release No. 411 of 16 November 2017
WIESBADEN – In the third quarter of 2017, the number of people whose place of employment was in Germany amounted to 44.5 million, according to provisional calculations of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). Compared with the third quarter of 2016, the number of persons in employment increased by 668,000 or 1.5%. In the first and second quarters of 2017, too, the year-on-year rate of increase was 1.5% each.
Compared with the second quarter of 2017, the number of persons in employment in the third quarter of 2017 rose by 275,000 (+0.6%). An increase in employment in the third quarter of a year is a usual seasonal pattern. In the third quarter of 2017, however, it was higher than the average of the past five years (+261,000 people). After seasonal adjustment, that is, after the elimination of the usual seasonal fluctuations, the relevant number in the third quarter of 2017 increased by 133,000 (+0.3%) compared with the previous quarter.
In the third quarter of 2017, the rise in the total number of persons in employment on the same quarter a year earlier was mainly due to the growth in the service sector. The largest absolute employment gains were recorded for public services, education, health (+207,000 people or +1.9%), followed by business services (+159,000 people or +2.7%) and trade, transport, accommodation and food services (+128,000 people or +1.3%). In industry (excluding construction), the number of persons in employment was up by 69,000 (+0.8%) in the third quarter of 2017 year on year; in construction it grew by 45,000 (+1.8%) and in agriculture, forestry and fishing by 3,000 (+0.5%). In the third quarter 2017, only financial and insurance activities recorded a decrease of 20,000 people (–1.7%).
Compared with the third quarter of 2016, the number of employees increased by 694,000 (+1.8%) to stand at 40.175 million in the third quarter of 2017, exceeding 40 million for the first time. The increase was mainly due to the rise in employment subject to social insurance. This increase far more than compensated the decrease in marginally employed people. The number of self-employed including family workers was down by 26,000 (–0.6%) to 4.325 million in the third quarter of 2017 on the same quarter a year earlier.
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 decreased by 0.3% to 345.1 hours in the third quarter of 2017, year on year. The total number of hours worked, that is, the number of persons in employment multiplied by the hours worked per person in employment, increased by 1.3% to roughly 15.4 billion hours in the same period.
In addition to calculating first results of the number of persons in employment and the number of hours worked for the third quarter of 2017, the results published so far for the first and second quarters of 2017 were updated. For this purpose, all additional sources of employment statistics that had become available by the time of updating were taken into account. The recalculation did not lead to any change in the year-on-year change rates of the quarterly employment figures for the first and second quarters of 2017 at the level of the overall economy.
| 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 | 43,750 | 39,444 | 4,306 | 15,302 | 349.7 |
| 2nd qtr | 44,225 | 39,899 | 4,326 | 14,211 | 321.3 | |
| 3rd qtr | 44,500 | 40,175 | 4,325 | 15,357 | 345.1 | |
| 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 | –0.7 | 3.3 | 1.7 |
| 2nd qtr | 1.5 | 1.8 | –0.6 | –0.4 | –1.9 | |
| 3rd qtr | 1.5 | 1.8 | –0.6 | 1.3 | –0.3 | |
| Sector of economic activity 2 | 2016 | 2016 | 2017 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st qtr | 2nd qtr | 3rd qtr | 4th qtr | 1st qtr | 2nd qtr | 3rd 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 | 582 | 654 | 639 |
| Industry, excluding construction | 8,108 | 8,065 | 8,080 | 8,130 | 8,155 | 8,117 | 8,141 | 8,199 |
| including: | ||||||||
| Manufacturing | 7,539 | 7,502 | 7,513 | 7,559 | 7,581 | 7,545 | 7,568 | 7,624 |
| Construction | 2,450 | 2,390 | 2,448 | 2,483 | 2,485 | 2,430 | 2,491 | 2,528 |
| Trade, transport, accommodation and food services | 9,976 | 9,829 | 9,948 | 10,021 | 10,074 | 9,946 | 10,084 | 10,149 |
| Information and communication | 1,240 | 1,224 | 1,235 | 1,246 | 1,257 | 1,267 | 1,281 | 1,287 |
| Financial and insurance activities | 1,179 | 1,181 | 1,177 | 1,179 | 1,183 | 1,168 | 1,160 | 1,159 |
| Real estate activities | 468 | 466 | 466 | 468 | 473 | 473 | 475 | 479 |
| Business services | 5,903 | 5,787 | 5,887 | 5,964 | 5,990 | 5,947 | 6,040 | 6,123 |
| Public services, education, health | 10,735 | 10,641 | 10,703 | 10,719 | 10,875 | 10,869 | 10,916 | 10,926 |
| Other services | 2,960 | 2,922 | 2,956 | 2,986 | 2,984 | 2,951 | 2,983 | 3,011 |
| Change in % on the corresponding period of the previous year | ||||||||
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | –2.8 | –3.3 | –3.0 | –2.9 | –2.6 | –1.5 | –0.5 | 0.5 |
| Industry, excluding construction | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.8 |
| including: | ||||||||
| Manufacturing | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.9 |
| Construction | 0.9 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 1.8 |
| Trade, transport, accommodation and food services | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 1.3 |
| Information and communication | 1.8 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 2.7 | 3.5 | 3.7 | 3.3 |
| Financial and insurance activities | –0.7 | –0.5 | –0.4 | –0.6 | –0.8 | –1.1 | –1.4 | –1.7 |
| Real estate activities | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 2.4 |
| Business services | 2.3 | 2.7 | 2.5 | 2.1 | 2.4 | 2.8 | 2.6 | 2.7 |
| Public services, education, health | 2.4 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 2.4 | 2.3 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 1.9 |
| Other services | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 0.8 |
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).