Press release No. 075 of 1 March 2019
WIESBADEN – In January 2019, 44.7 million persons resident in Germany were in employment according to provisional calculations of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). Compared with January 2018, the number of persons in employment increased by 1.1% (+483,000). This year-on-year change rate is the same as in the two last months of 2018. In January 2019, roughly 1.5 million people were unemployed, 71,000 fewer than a year earlier.
According to provisional results of the employment accounts, the number of persons in employment was down by 270,000, or 0.6%, in January 2019 on the previous month, which is quite common for this time of the year due to worse weather conditions. However, the month-on-month decrease was smaller than the relevant average of the past five years (-325,000 people). After seasonal adjustment, that is, after the elimination of the usual seasonal fluctuations, the number of persons in employment increased by 78,000, or 0.2%, in January 2019 on December 2018.
Results of the labour force survey show that there were 1.47 million unemployed in January 2019. Their number increased by 133,000 on December. When adjusted for seasonal and irregular effects, the number of unemployed stood at 1.41 million in January 2019. It was thus by 13,000 people lower than in the previous month. The adjusted unemployment rate declined to 3.2% in January 2019.
| 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. | ||||||
| 2016 | January | 42.964 | -0.9 | 1.3 | 43.266 | 0.0 |
| February | 43.038 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 43.325 | 0.1 | |
| March | 43.207 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 43.393 | 0.2 | |
| April | 43.347 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 43.423 | 0.1 | |
| May | 43.479 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 43.472 | 0.1 | |
| June | 43.568 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 43.528 | 0.1 | |
| July | 43.535 | -0.1 | 1.2 | 43.532 | 0.0 | |
| August | 43.631 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 43.611 | 0.2 | |
| September | 43.870 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 43.681 | 0.2 | |
| October | 43.972 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 43.727 | 0.1 | |
| November | 44.057 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 43.793 | 0.2 | |
| December | 43.929 | -0.3 | 1.4 | 43.861 | 0.2 | |
| 2017 | January | 43.596 | -0.8 | 1.5 | 43.892 | 0.1 |
| February | 43.667 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 43.948 | 0.1 | |
| March | 43.821 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 44.001 | 0.1 | |
| April | 43.962 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 44.036 | 0.1 | |
| May | 44.083 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 44.074 | 0.1 | |
| June | 44.177 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 44.136 | 0.1 | |
| July | 44.183 | 0.0 | 1.5 | 44.185 | 0.1 | |
| August | 44.245 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 44.225 | 0.1 | |
| September | 44.455 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 44.269 | 0.1 | |
| October | 44.543 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 44.307 | 0.1 | |
| November | 44.631 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 44.370 | 0.1 | |
| December | 44.502 | -0.3 | 1.3 | 44.433 | 0.1 | |
| 2018 | January | 44.243 | -0.6 | 1.5 | 44.532 | 0.2 |
| February | 44.290 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 44.567 | 0.1 | |
| March | 44.401 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 44.579 | 0.0 | |
| April | 44.546 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 44.621 | 0.1 | |
| May | 44.675 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 44.664 | 0.1 | |
| June | 44.718 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 44.677 | 0.0 | |
| July | 44.721 | 0.0 | 1.2 | 44.726 | 0.1 | |
| August | 44.786 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 44.766 | 0.1 | |
| September | 44.978 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 44.794 | 0.1 | |
| October | 45.066 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 44.835 | 0.1 | |
| November | 45.142 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 44.883 | 0.1 | |
| December | 44.996 | -0.3 | 1.1 | 44.929 | 0.1 | |
| 2019 | January | 44.726 | -0.6 | 1.1 | 45.007 | 0.2 |
| January 2019 | Previous month | Same month of the previous year | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2018 | Change | January 2018 | Change | ||
| 1 Persons in households aged 15 to 74 years. 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-13-ARIMA method using JDemetra+; calculation by Eurostat). | |||||
| Original values | |||||
| in million | in % | in million | in % | ||
| Unemployed persons | 1.47 | 1.34 | 9.7 | 1.54 | -4.5 |
| Persons in employment | 42.38 | 42.14 | 0.6 | 41.69 | 1.7 |
| shares in % | in % | shares in % | in % | ||
| Unemployment rate 2 | 3.4 | 3.1 | 9.7 | 3.6 | -5.6 |
| Employment rate 3 | 68.0 | 67.7 | 0.4 | 67.0 | 1.5 |
| Adjusted results 4 | |||||
| in million | in % | in million | in % | ||
| Unemployed persons | 1.41 | 1.42 | -0.7 | 1.53 | -7.8 |
| Persons in employment | 42.21 | 42.13 | 0.2 | 41.63 | 1.4 |
| shares in % | in percentage points | shares in % | in percentage points | ||
| Unemployment rate 2 | 3.2 | 3.3 | -0.1 | 3.5 | -0.3 |
| Men | 3.6 | 3.7 | -0.1 | 3.9 | -0.3 |
| Women | 2.8 | 2.8 | 0.0 | 3.1 | -0.3 |
| Persons aged under 25 years | 6.0 | 6.0 | 0.0 | 6.4 | -0.4 |
| Persons aged 25 to 74 years | 2.9 | 3.0 | -0.1 | 3.2 | -0.3 |
| Employment rate 3 | 67.7 | 67.7 | 0.0 | 66.9 | 0.8 |
Methodological notes:
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) and 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).
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).
