Press release No. 327 of 29 August 2019

WIESBADEN – Approximately 45.1 million persons resident in Germany were in employment in July 2019 according to provisional calculations of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). Compared with July 2018, the number of persons in employment increased by 0.8% (+358,000). The year-on-year change rate had been 1.2% in December 2018, 1.1% in January 2019 and 0.9% in June. This means that employment growth slowed in the course of 2019.

Number of persons in employment down slightly from a month earlier

According to provisional results of the employment accounts, the number of persons in employment was down slightly by 16,000 in July 2019 on the previous month, while the relevant average for July in the past five years was +21,000 people. After seasonal adjustment, that is, after the elimination of the usual seasonal fluctuations, the number of persons in employment rose by 12,000 in July 2019 compared with June 2019.

Adjusted unemployment rate dropped to 3.0% for the first time

According to results of the labour force survey, 1.35 million people were unemployed in July. This was a decrease of 86,000 people compared with a year earlier (-6.2%). When adjusted for seasonal and irregular effects, the number of unemployed stood at 1.33 million. That is a month-on-month decline of 15,100 people or 1.5%. For the first time, the adjusted unemployment rate stood at only 3.0% in July 2019.

I. Employment accounts
Persons in employment whose place of residence is in Germany ¹

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	43.001	-0.9	1.2	43.286	0.0
	February	43.089	0.2	1.3	43.346	0.1
	March	43.224	0.3	1.2	43.404	0.1
	April	43.361	0.3	1.2	43.435	0.1
	May	43.481	0.3	1.2	43.484	0.1
	June	43.538	0.1	1.2	43.538	0.1
	July	43.518	0.0	1.1	43.539	0.0
	August	43.579	0.1	1.2	43.613	0.2
	September	43.873	0.7	1.2	43.683	0.2
	October	43.972	0.2	1.2	43.720	0.1
	November	44.062	0.2	1.2	43.776	0.1
	December	43.942	-0.3	1.3	43.833	0.1
2017	January	43.584	-0.8	1.4	43.858	0.1
	February	43.657	0.2	1.3	43.906	0.1
	March	43.792	0.3	1.3	43.964	0.1
	April	43.929	0.3	1.3	44.000	0.1
	May	44.038	0.2	1.3	44.039	0.1
	June	44.104	0.1	1.3	44.105	0.1
	July	44.132	0.1	1.4	44.162	0.1
	August	44.164	0.1	1.3	44.202	0.1
	September	44.436	0.6	1.3	44.253	0.1
	October	44.529	0.2	1.3	44.288	0.1
	November	44.634	0.2	1.3	44.349	0.1
	December	44.528	-0.2	1.3	44.414	0.1
2018	January	44.244	-0.6	1.5	44.508	0.2
	February	44.296	0.1	1.5	44.538	0.1
	March	44.393	0.2	1.4	44.562	0.1
	April	44.538	0.3	1.4	44.609	0.1
	May	44.657	0.3	1.4	44.657	0.1
	June	44.675	0.0	1.3	44.679	0.0
	July	44.695	0.0	1.3	44.729	0.1
	August	44.737	0.1	1.3	44.778	0.1
	September	44.967	0.5	1.2	44.789	0.0
	October	45.078	0.2	1.2	44.842	0.1
	November	45.179	0.2	1.2	44.893	0.1
	December	45.056	-0.3	1.2	44.939	0.1
2019	January	44.742	-0.7	1.1	44.997	0.1
	February	44.793	0.1	1.1	45.029	0.1
	March	44.873	0.2	1.1	45.043	0.0
	April	44.984	0.2	1.0	45.056	0.0
	May	45.068	0.2	0.9	45.068	0.0
	June	45.069	0.0	0.9	45.077	0.0
	July	45.053	0.0	0.8	45.089	0.0

II. Labour force survey
Unemployed persons and persons in employment ¹

	July 2019	Previous month		Same month of the previous year
		June 2019	Change	July 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	1.35	1.34	0.7	1.44	-6.2
Persons in employment	42.22	42.36	-0.3	41.84	0.9
	shares in %		in %	shares in %	in %
Unemployment rate 2	3.1	3.1	0.0	3.3	-6.1
Employment rate 3	68.1	68.3	-0.3	67.4	1.0
Adjusted results 4
	in million		in %	in million	in %
Unemployed persons	1.33	1.35	-1.5	1.47	-9.5
Persons in employment	42.31	42.30	0.0	41.74	1.4
	shares in %		in percentage points	shares in %	in percentage points
Unemployment rate 2	3.0	3.1	-0.1	3.4	-0.4
Men	3.4	3.5	-0.1	3.8	-0.4
Women	2.6	2.7	-0.1	2.9	-0.3
Persons aged under 25 years	5.6	5.6	0.0	6.2	-0.6
Persons aged 25 to 74 years	2.8	2.8	0.0	3.1	-0.3
Employment rate 3	68.2	68.1	0.1	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.