Press release No. 250 of 1 July 2019
Number of persons in employment rose to 45.1 million
WIESBADEN – Roughly 45.1 million persons resident in Germany were in employment in May 2019 according to provisional calculations of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). Compared with May 2018, the number of persons in employment increased by 1.0% (+468,000). The year-on-year change rate for the period January to April 2019 had been 1.1%.
Growth below five-year average
According to provisional results of the employment accounts, the number of persons in employment rose by 109,000, or 0.2%, in May 2019 on the previous month. However, the month-on-month increase was smaller than the relevant average for May in the past five years (+120,000 people). After seasonal adjustment, that is, after the elimination of the usual seasonal fluctuations, the number of persons in employment increased by 22,000 in May 2019 compared with April 2019.
Number of unemployed down to 1.30 million
The number of unemployed was down both year-on-year and month-on-month, according to results of the labour force survey. In May 2019, 1.30 million people were unemployed, that is a decline of 165,000 on May 2018 and of 77,000 on April 2019. Adjusted for seasonal and irregular effects, the number of unemployed stood at 1.35 million in May, which was a decline of 17,100 on April. The adjusted unemployment rate was 3.1% in May 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 | 43.264 | 0.0 |
| February | 43.038 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 43.324 | 0.1 | |
| March | 43.207 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 43.392 | 0.2 | |
| April | 43.347 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 43.424 | 0.1 | |
| May | 43.479 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 43.474 | 0.1 | |
| June | 43.568 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 43.531 | 0.1 | |
| July | 43.535 | -0.1 | 1.2 | 43.535 | 0.0 | |
| August | 43.631 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 43.613 | 0.2 | |
| September | 43.870 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 43.685 | 0.2 | |
| October | 43.972 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 43.727 | 0.1 | |
| November | 44.057 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 43.789 | 0.1 | |
| December | 43.929 | -0.3 | 1.4 | 43.855 | 0.2 | |
| 2017 | January | 43.596 | -0.8 | 1.5 | 43.888 | 0.1 |
| February | 43.667 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 43.946 | 0.1 | |
| March | 43.821 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 44.000 | 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 | 44.139 | 0.1 | |
| July | 44.183 | 0.0 | 1.5 | 44.189 | 0.1 | |
| August | 44.245 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 44.230 | 0.1 | |
| September | 44.455 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 44.275 | 0.1 | |
| October | 44.543 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 44.307 | 0.1 | |
| November | 44.631 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 44.365 | 0.1 | |
| December | 44.502 | -0.3 | 1.3 | 44.426 | 0.1 | |
| 2018 | January | 44.244 | -0.6 | 1.5 | 44.530 | 0.2 |
| February | 44.290 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 44.564 | 0.1 | |
| March | 44.402 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 44.579 | 0.0 | |
| April | 44.547 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 44.620 | 0.1 | |
| May | 44.676 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 44.666 | 0.1 | |
| June | 44.719 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 44.682 | 0.0 | |
| July | 44.721 | 0.0 | 1.2 | 44.730 | 0.1 | |
| August | 44.784 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 44.770 | 0.1 | |
| September | 44.965 | 0.4 | 1.1 | 44.788 | 0.0 | |
| October | 45.072 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 44.841 | 0.1 | |
| November | 45.160 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 44.894 | 0.1 | |
| December | 45.019 | -0.3 | 1.2 | 44.943 | 0.1 | |
| 2019 | January | 44.724 | -0.7 | 1.1 | 45.004 | 0.1 |
| February | 44.770 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 45.040 | 0.1 | |
| March | 44.897 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 45.076 | 0.1 | |
| April | 45.035 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 45.109 | 0.1 | |
| May | 45.144 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 45.131 | 0.0 | |
| May 2019 | Previous month | Same month of the previous year | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2019 | Change | May 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 | 1.30 | 1.38 | -5.8 | 1.47 | -11.6 |
| Persons in employment | 42.07 | 41.86 | 0.5 | 41.43 | 1.5 |
| shares in % | in % | shares in % | in % | ||
| Unemployment rate 2 | 3.0 | 3.2 | -6.3 | 3.4 | -11.8 |
| Employment rate 3 | 67.9 | 67.7 | 0.3 | 67.0 | 1.3 |
| Adjusted results 4 | |||||
| in million | in % | in million | in % | ||
| Unemployed persons | 1.35 | 1.36 | -0.7 | 1.48 | -8.8 |
| Persons in employment | 42.21 | 42.17 | 0.1 | 41.65 | 1.3 |
| shares in % | in percentage points | shares in % | in percentage points | ||
| Unemployment rate 2 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 0.0 | 3.4 | -0.3 |
| Men | 3.3 | 3.4 | -0.1 | 3.9 | -0.6 |
| Women | 2.8 | 2.9 | -0.1 | 2.9 | -0.1 |
| Persons aged under 25 years | 5.1 | 5.2 | -0.1 | 6.3 | -1.2 |
| Persons aged 25 to 74 years | 2.9 | 2.9 | 0.0 | 3.1 | -0.2 |
| Employment rate 3 | 68.2 | 68.2 | 0.0 | 67.3 | 0.9 |
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 to 13231-0003 (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 Social Code. In the European Statistical System, the results of the labour force survey are used as a standard basis for calculating unemployment rates.
