Press release No. 196 of 23 May 2019
Gross domestic product, 1st quarter of 2019
+0.4% on the previous quarter (price, seasonally and calendar adjusted)
+0.6% on the same quarter a year earlier (price adjusted)
+0.7% on the same quarter a year earlier (price and calendar adjusted)
WIESBADEN – The German economy continued to grow at the beginning of the year. As the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) already reported in its first release of 15 May 2019, the gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 0.4% (after price, seasonal and calendar adjustment) in the first quarter of 2019 compared with the fourth quarter of 2018. The German economic performance last declined slightly in the third quarter of 2018 (-0.2%) and stagnated in the fourth quarter of 2018 (0.0%).
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st quarter | 2nd quarter | 3rd quarter | 4th quarter | 1st quarter | 2nd quarter | 3rd quarter | 4th quarter | 1st quarter |
| 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.5 | -0.2 | 0.0 | 0.4 |
Quarter-on-quarter contributions to growth came mainly from domestic demand
The quarter-on-quarter comparison (price, seasonally and calendar adjusted) shows that positive contributions mainly came from domestic demand. Gross fixed capital formation in machinery and equipment increased by 1.2% from the fourth quarter of 2018. Gross fixed capital formation in construction was up by as much as 1.9%. Furthermore household final consumption expenditure rose by 1.2%. A similarly strong increase in the final consumption expenditure of households was last observed in 2011. However, government final consumption expenditure recorded a decline (-0.3%).
External demand increased, too. According to provisional calculations, exports of goods and services were up 1.0% on the fourth quarter of 2018. Imports increased slightly less (+0.7%) in the same period.
Gross domestic product also increased on the previous year
Compared with a year earlier, the price adjusted GDP rose by 0.6% (calendar adjusted: 0.7%) in the first quarter of 2019. The price-adjusted GDP was up 0.9% (calendar adjusted: 0.6%) in the fourth quarter of 2018 and 1.1% (calendar adjusted: 1.1%) in the third quarter of 2018 on the relevant quarters a year earlier.
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st quarter | 2nd quarter | 3rd quarter | 4th quarter | 1st quarter | 2nd quarter | 3rd quarter | 4th quarter | 1st quarter |
| 3.4 | 0.9 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 1.4 | 2.3 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.6 |
Decline in labour productivity
The economic performance in the first quarter of 2019 was achieved by 44.9 million persons in employment, which was an increase of 481,000, or 1.1%, on a year earlier (see press release 190/19 of 17 May 2019).
Overall labour productivity (price adjusted gross domestic product per hour worked by persons in employment) was down 0.8% in the first quarter of 2019 year on year, according to provisional calculations. The decline in labour productivity was slightly lower per person in employment (-0.5%). The average number of hours worked per person in employment increased somewhat on a year earlier. This is shown by first provisional calculations of the Institute for Employment Research of the Federal Employment Agency.
Year-on-year contributions to growth also came from domestic demand
In a year-on-year comparison, too, contributions to growth were mainly made by domestic demand in the first quarter of 2019. Household final consumption expenditure rose by 1.1% and government final consumption expenditure by 1.4%. Gross fixed capital formation in machinery and equipment increased by 2.3% (price adjusted) on the first quarter of 2018. Gross fixed capital formation in construction increased markedly by 5.3%. On the whole, domestic uses were up 1.6% on a year earlier.
According to provisional calculations, exports of goods and services increased by 1.5% in the first quarter of 2019 year on year. In the same period, imports were up, too, although the relevant increase was much stronger (+4.1%).
Gross value added down in manufacturing
On the production side of the gross domestic product, the price adjusted gross value added was higher in the first quarter of 2019 than a year earlier in all economic sectors, with the exception of manufacturing (-2.4%). The highest growth rates were recorded for construction (+4.6%), agriculture, forestry and fishing (+4.7%) and information and communication services (+3.1%). On the whole, the price adjusted gross value added of all economic sectors was up 0.5% on the first quarter of 2018.
Strong increase in compensation of employees
At current prices, the gross domestic product and the gross national income were up by 2.7% in the first quarter of 2019 compared with the first quarter of 2018. Net national income at factor costs, which consists of compensation of employees and property and entrepreneurial income, rose a total 2.2%. The development of the two components differed considerably. Compensation of employees was up 4.7% on the fourth quarter of 2018, whereas property and entrepreneurial income was down 2.6% according to first provisional calculations. Gross wages and salaries of employees rose by 4.6% and net wages and salaries by 4.9% on a year earlier. On average, wages and salaries per employee did not rise that much (3.1% in gross terms and 3.5% in net terms) because the number of employees went up as well (+1.4%) compared with the same quarter one year earlier. The disposable income of households increased by 3.2%, with the rise being higher than that of household final consumption expenditure at current prices (+2.4%).
Revision of previous results
In addition to calculating first data for the first quarter of 2019, the results published previously for 2018 were also reviewed and, where necessary, new statistical information was incorporated in the calculation of results. As reported in the first release of 15 May 2019, this did not result in any changes of the gross domestic product data published so far. As usually, there may be changes in the results of individual GDP components as well as in seasonally and calendar adjusted series
| Unadjusted figures | Figures according to Census X-12-ARIMA price-adjusted, chain-linked | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| At current prices | Price-adjusted, chain-linked | Seasonally and calendar-adjusted | Calendar- adjusted | |||||
| EUR billion | % 1 | 2010 = 100 | % 1 | 2010 = 100 | % 2 | % 1 3 | ||
| 1 Change on the previous year or the same quarter of the preceding year in %. 2 Change on the previous year or previous quarter in %. 3 As for years, the calendar-adjusted values equal the seasonally and calendar-adjusted values (except for differences due to rounding). qtr = quarter | ||||||||
| 2017 | 3,277.34 | 3.7 | 113.66 | 2.2 | 113.79 | 2.5 | 2.5 | |
| 2018 | 3,386.00 | 3.3 | 115.28 | 1.4 | 115.44 | 1.5 | 1.5 | |
| 2017 | 1st quarter | 803.37 | 4.3 | 113.40 | 3.4 | 112.84 | 1.1 | 2.1 |
| 2nd quarter | 808.72 | 2.5 | 112.45 | 0.9 | 113.46 | 0.5 | 2.2 | |
| 3 rdquarter | 833.24 | 4.2 | 115.50 | 2.2 | 114.12 | 0.6 | 2.6 | |
| 4th quarter | 832.01 | 4.0 | 113.27 | 2.2 | 114.73 | 0.5 | 2.8 | |
| 2018 | 1st quarter | 828.98 | 3.2 | 114.95 | 1.4 | 115.16 | 0.4 | 2.1 |
| 2nd quarter | 842.86 | 4.2 | 115.09 | 2.3 | 115.68 | 0.5 | 2.0 | |
| 3 rdquarter | 858.38 | 3.0 | 116.77 | 1.1 | 115.45 | - 0.2 | 1.1 | |
| 4th quarter | 855.78 | 2.9 | 114.30 | 0.9 | 115.47 | 0.0 | 0.6 | |
| 2019 | 1st quarter | 851.51 | 2.7 | 115.65 | 0.6 | 115.96 | 0.4 | 0.7 |
| 2018 | 2019 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st quarter | 2nd quarter | 3rd quarter | 4th quarter | 1st quarter | |
| At current prices EUR billion | |||||
| Consumption expenditure | 587.409 | 606.129 | 609.369 | 634.230 | 604.184 |
| Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs | 428.072 | 444.977 | 448.247 | 454.628 | 438.324 |
| Government final consumption expenditure | 159.337 | 161.152 | 161.122 | 179.602 | 165.860 |
| Gross capital formation | 177.410 | 169.635 | 204.173 | 168.469 | 188.242 |
| Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) | 159.075 | 178.920 | 180.675 | 184.749 | 169.782 |
| GFCFin machinery and equipment | 51.739 | 56.193 | 53.879 | 63.858 | 53.389 |
| GFCF in construction | 76.622 | 91.471 | 95.093 | 87.423 | 84.841 |
| GFCF in other products | 30.714 | 31.256 | 31.703 | 33.468 | 31.552 |
| Domestic uses | 764.819 | 775.764 | 813.542 | 802.699 | 792.426 |
| Exports | 389.631 | 402.130 | 393.973 | 404.440 | 401.416 |
| Imports | 325.470 | 335.034 | 349.135 | 351.359 | 342.332 |
| Gross domestic product (GDP) | 828.980 | 842.860 | 858.380 | 855.780 | 851.510 |
| Price-adjusted, chain-linked Change on the previous year in % | |||||
| Consumption expenditure | 1.6 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 1.2 |
| Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs | 1.9 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 1.1 |
| Government final consumption expenditure | 0.7 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 1.4 |
| Gross capital formation | 1.1 | 4.8 | 8.0 | 6.6 | 2.8 |
| Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) | 1.8 | 3.2 | 2.4 | 3.0 | 3.3 |
| GFCF in machinery and equipment | 4.8 | 5.4 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 2.3 |
| GFCF in construction | 0.5 | 2.7 | 2.5 | 3.9 | 5.3 |
| GFCF in other products | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.5 | -0.1 |
| Domestic uses | 1.5 | 1.9 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 1.6 |
| Exports | 2.2 | 4.3 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 1.5 |
| Imports | 2.6 | 3.6 | 3.8 | 3.2 | 4.1 |
| Gross domestic product (GDP) | 1.4 | 2.3 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.6 |
| Memorandum item: | |||||
| GDP per person in employment | -0.1 | 1.0 | -0.1 | -0.3 | -0.5 |
| GDP per hour worked by persons in employment | 1.2 | -0.1 | -0.3 | -0.8 | -0.8 |
| Contributions to growth of price-adjusted GDP in percentage points | |||||
| Consumption expenditure | 1.1 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 0.9 |
| Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.6 |
| Government final consumption expenditure | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Gross capital formation | 0.2 | 0.9 | 1.7 | 1.2 | 0.6 |
| Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.6 |
| GFCF in machinery and equipment | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.1 |
| GFCF in construction | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.5 |
| GFCF in other products | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Changes in inventories, and so on | -0.1 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.0 |
| Domestic uses | 1.3 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 1.5 |
| Balance of exports and imports (net exports) | 0.0 | 0.6 | -1.0 | -1.1 | -0.9 |
| 2018 | 2019 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st quarter | 2nd quarter | 3rd quarter | 4th quarter | 1st quarter | |
| 1 Only seasonally adjusted. | |||||
| At current prices EUR billion | |||||
| Consumption expenditure | 603.339 | 607.864 | 609.954 | 616.946 | 622.792 |
| Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs | 440.785 | 443.141 | 444.664 | 448.300 | 453.561 |
| Government final consumption expenditure | 162.554 | 164.723 | 165.290 | 168.646 | 169.231 |
| Gross capital formation | 170.998 | 178.412 | 188.391 | 183.565 | 180.621 |
| Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) | 172.695 | 175.052 | 177.544 | 180.486 | 183.995 |
| GFCF in machinery and equipment | 56.117 | 56.462 | 56.693 | 57.368 | 57.924 |
| GFCF in construction | 85.159 | 86.937 | 88.971 | 90.930 | 93.774 |
| GFCF in other products | 31.419 | 31.653 | 31.880 | 32.188 | 32.297 |
| Domestic uses | 774.337 | 786.276 | 798.345 | 800.511 | 803.413 |
| Exports | 394.986 | 399.414 | 398.961 | 403.006 | 407.278 |
| Imports | 331.379 | 338.038 | 346.075 | 349.604 | 348.947 |
| Gross domestic product (GDP) | 837.944 | 847.652 | 851.231 | 853.913 | 861.744 |
| Price-adjusted,chain-linked Change on the previous quarter in % | |||||
| Consumption expenditure | 0.1 | 0.4 | -0.2 | 0.5 | 0.8 |
| Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs | 0.2 | 0.3 | -0.1 | 0.3 | 1.2 |
| Government final consumption expenditure | -0.3 | 0.7 | -0.3 | 1.3 | -0.3 |
| Gross capital formation | 1.5 | 1.9 | 4.2 | -1.8 | -1.7 |
| Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 1.1 |
| GFCF in machinery and equipment | 2.2 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 1.2 |
| GFCF in construction | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 1.9 |
| GFCF in other products | -0.5 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.5 | -1.1 |
| Domestic uses | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| Exports | -0.2 | 0.8 | -0.9 | 0.6 | 1.0 |
| Imports | -0.3 | 1.5 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| Gross domestic product (GDP) | 0.4 | 0.5 | -0.2 | 0.0 | 0.4 |
| Memorandum item: | |||||
| GDP per person in employment | -0.1 | 0.2 | -0.4 | -0.3 | 0.1 |
| GDP per hour worked by persons in employment 1 | -0.1 | -0.6 | -0.4 | 0.2 | -0.1 |
| Contributions to growth of price-adjusted GDP--gross domestic product in percentage points | |||||
| Consumption expenditure | 0.1 | 0.3 | -0.1 | 0.4 | 0.6 |
| Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs | 0.1 | 0.2 | -0.1 | 0.1 | 0.6 |
| Government final consumption expenditure | -0.1 | 0.1 | -0.1 | 0.3 | -0.1 |
| Gross capital formation | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.9 | -0.4 | -0.4 |
| Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| GFCF in machinery and equipment | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| GFCF in construction | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
| GFCF in other products | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Changes in inventories, and so on | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.8 | -0.6 | -0.6 |
| Domestic uses | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| Balance of exports and imports (net exports) | 0.0 | -0.2 | -0.9 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| 2018 | 2019 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st quarter | 2nd quarter | 3rd quarter | 4th quarter | 1st quarter | |
| At current prices EUR billion | |||||
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 5.342 | 5.472 | 6.314 | 5.964 | 6.439 |
| Industry, excluding construction | 196.836 | 201.191 | 196.266 | 192.318 | 194.569 |
| including: | |||||
| Manufacturing | 174.723 | 181.787 | 176.953 | 171.762 | 172.513 |
| Construction | 31.674 | 40.120 | 42.962 | 45.803 | 36.155 |
| Trade, transport, accommodation and food services | 116.311 | 127.028 | 126.629 | 126.538 | 120.421 |
| Information and communication | 36.053 | 34.774 | 37.089 | 36.075 | 37.676 |
| Financial and insurance activities | 28.166 | 28.174 | 28.136 | 28.166 | 28.297 |
| Real estate activities | 81.819 | 81.090 | 83.119 | 79.598 | 83.741 |
| Business services | 82.216 | 80.158 | 86.106 | 81.821 | 84.195 |
| Public services, education, health | 137.517 | 133.772 | 138.148 | 145.453 | 143.552 |
| Other services | 29.790 | 29.047 | 30.795 | 30.114 | 30.520 |
| Gross value added, total | 745.724 | 760.826 | 775.564 | 771.850 | 765.565 |
| Price-adjusted, chain-linked Change on the previous year in % | |||||
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | -1.3 | -2.0 | -3.3 | -2.9 | 4.7 |
| Industry, excluding construction | 1.6 | 3.2 | -0.4 | -1.5 | -2.4 |
| including: | |||||
| Manufacturing | 1.7 | 3.8 | -0.5 | -1.4 | -2.4 |
| Construction | 1.1 | 3.1 | 2.9 | 4.4 | 4.6 |
| Trade, transport, accommodation and food services | 2.1 | 2.9 | 1.7 | 2.0 | 1.7 |
| Information and communication | 3.4 | 3.8 | 3.2 | 3.6 | 3.1 |
| Financial and insurance activities | 0.2 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 1.1 |
| Real estate activities | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 0.7 |
| Business services | 1.6 | 2.8 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Public services, education, health | 1.5 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Other services | 0.1 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.8 |
| Gross value added, total | 1.5 | 2.3 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 0.5 |
| 2018 | 2019 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st quarter | 2nd quarter | 3rd quarter | 4th quarter | 1st quarter | |
| At current prices EUR billion | |||||
| Gross national income | 851.024 | 846.184 | 878.117 | 883.132 | 874.375 |
| Net national income (factor costs) | 621.306 | 615.770 | 644.945 | 649.935 | 634.726 |
| Compensation of employees | 407.654 | 426.461 | 432.094 | 479.874 | 426.685 |
| Property and entrepreneurial income | 213.652 | 189.309 | 212.851 | 170.061 | 208.041 |
| Gross wages and salaries of employees | 333.374 | 349.183 | 355.184 | 395.021 | 348.573 |
| Net wages and salaries of employees | 220.329 | 225.275 | 239.494 | 260.270 | 231.179 |
| Memorandum item: | |||||
| Disposable income of households | 482.203 | 480.654 | 479.357 | 487.745 | 497.656 |
| Savings ratio (in %) | 13.5 | 9.9 | 9.0 | 9.3 | 14.2 |
| Change on the previous year in % | |||||
| Gross national income | 3.1 | 4.3 | 3.1 | 3.0 | 2.7 |
| Net national income (factor costs) | 3.0 | 4.2 | 2.6 | 2.6 | 2.2 |
| Compensation of employees | 4.5 | 4.5 | 5.0 | 4.4 | 4.7 |
| Property and entrepreneurial income | 0.1 | 3.5 | -2.1 | -2.2 | -2.6 |
| Gross wages and salaries of employees | 4.7 | 4.8 | 5.3 | 4.6 | 4.6 |
| Net wages and salaries of employees | 4.5 | 4.7 | 5.2 | 4.4 | 4.9 |
| Memorandum item: | |||||
| Disposable income of households | 3.6 | 3.2 | 2.6 | 3.4 | 3.2 |
The above and other current national accounting results are available in the Genesis-Online database.
Visualised updated results are also provided in our new, interactive national accounts dashboard at https://service.destatis.de/DE/vgr_dashboard/bip.html.
