Press release No. 125 of 29 March 2019
WIESBADEN – In February 2019, 44.8 million persons resident in Germany were in employment according to provisional calculations of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). Compared with February 2018, the number of persons in employment increased by 1.1% (+485,000). This corresponds to the year-on-year rate of change of the previous three months (November 2018 to January 2019). Thus employment has increased in a stable manner at the beginning of the year despite the fact that short-term economic development has been weaker recently. Unemployment has continued to decline. In February 2019, 1.36 million people were unemployed, 278,000 fewer than a year earlier.
Smaller increase compared with the average of the past five years
According to provisional results of the employment accounts, the number of persons in employment rose by 49,000, or 0.1%, in February 2019 on the previous month. However, the month-on-month increase was smaller than the relevant average of the past five years (+57,000 people). After seasonal adjustment, that is, after the elimination of the usual seasonal fluctuations, the number of persons in employment increased by 37,000, or 0.1%, in February 2019 on January 2019.
Number of unemployed people declined by 99,000 on February 2018
Results of the labour force survey show that 1.36 million people were unemployed in February 2019. The number declined by 99,000 compared with January 2019. Adjusted for seasonal and irregular effects, the number of unemployed also stood at 1.36 million in February 2019, which was a decline of 20,500 on a month earlier. The adjusted unemployment rate was 3.1% in February 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 | 43.265 | 0.0 |
| February | 43.038 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 43.325 | 0.1 | |
| March | 43.207 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 43.394 | 0.2 | |
| April | 43.347 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 43.425 | 0.1 | |
| May | 43.479 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 43.473 | 0.1 | |
| June | 43.568 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 43.529 | 0.1 | |
| July | 43.535 | -0.1 | 1.2 | 43.533 | 0.0 | |
| August | 43.631 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 43.611 | 0.2 | |
| September | 43.870 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 43.682 | 0.2 | |
| October | 43.972 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 43.727 | 0.1 | |
| November | 44.057 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 43.791 | 0.1 | |
| December | 43.929 | -0.3 | 1.4 | 43.859 | 0.2 | |
| 2017 | January | 43.596 | -0.8 | 1.5 | 43.889 | 0.1 |
| February | 43.667 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 43.946 | 0.1 | |
| March | 43.821 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 44.003 | 0.1 | |
| April | 43.962 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 44.038 | 0.1 | |
| May | 44.083 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 44.075 | 0.1 | |
| June | 44.177 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 44.138 | 0.1 | |
| July | 44.183 | 0.0 | 1.5 | 44.186 | 0.1 | |
| August | 44.245 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 44.226 | 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 | 44.368 | 0.1 | |
| December | 44.502 | -0.3 | 1.3 | 44.432 | 0.1 | |
| 2018 | January | 44.243 | -0.6 | 1.5 | 44.529 | 0.2 |
| February | 44.290 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 44.562 | 0.1 | |
| March | 44.401 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 44.581 | 0.0 | |
| April | 44.546 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 44.623 | 0.1 | |
| May | 44.675 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 44.666 | 0.1 | |
| June | 44.718 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 44.678 | 0.0 | |
| July | 44.721 | 0.0 | 1.2 | 44.727 | 0.1 | |
| August | 44.786 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 44.767 | 0.1 | |
| September | 44.978 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 44.794 | 0.1 | |
| October | 45.066 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 44.834 | 0.1 | |
| November | 45.142 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 44.881 | 0.1 | |
| December | 44.996 | -0.3 | 1.1 | 44.927 | 0.1 | |
| 2019 | January | 44.726 | -0.6 | 1.1 | 45.004 | 0.2 |
| February | 44.775 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 45.041 | 0.1 | |
| February 2019 | Previous month | Same month of the previous year | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2019 | Change | February 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 | 1.36 | 1.46 | -6.8 | 1.64 | -17.1 |
| Persons in employment | 41.83 | 42.00 | -0.4 | 41.50 | 0.8 |
| shares in % | in % | shares in % | in % | ||
| Unemployment rate 2 | 3.1 | 3.4 | -8.8 | 3.8 | -18.4 |
| Employment rate 3 | 67.8 | 67.8 | 0.0 | 66.7 | 1.6 |
| Adjusted results 4 | |||||
| in million | in % | in million | in % | ||
| Unemployed persons | 1.36 | 1.38 | -1.4 | 1.51 | -9.9 |
| Persons in employment | 41.97 | 41.90 | 0.2 | 41.63 | 0.8 |
| shares in % | in percentage points | shares in % | in percentage points | ||
| Unemployment rate 2 | 3.1 | 3.2 | -0.1 | 3.5 | -0.4 |
| Men | 3.4 | 3.5 | -0.1 | 3.9 | -0.5 |
| Women | 2.8 | 2.8 | 0.0 | 3.0 | -0.2 |
| Persons aged under 25 years | 5.6 | 5.7 | -0.1 | 6.4 | -0.8 |
| Persons aged 25 to 74 years | 2.9 | 2.9 | 0.0 | 3.2 | -0.3 |
| Employment rate 3 | 68.0 | 67.7 | 0.3 | 66.9 | 1.1 |
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 conceptual approaches applied in the two statistical systems.
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 accordance with the German Social Code. In the European Statistical System, the results of the labour force survey are used as a standard basis for calculating unemployment rates.
