Press release No. 418 of 30 October 2019
WIESBADEN – Roughly 45.3 million persons resident in Germany (national concept) were in employment in September 2019 according to provisional calculations of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). Compared with September 2018, the number of persons in employment increased by 0.7% (+327,000). The year-on-year change rate had been 1.2% in December 2018, 1.1% in January 2019 and 0.8% in August 2019. This means that employment growth continued but slowed in the course of 2019.
Slight increase in the number of persons in employment on August 2019
According to provisional results of the employment accounts, the number of persons in employment increased by 221,000 (+0.5%) in September 2019 on the previous month and was lower than the relevant average for September in the past five years (+264,000 people). After seasonal adjustment, that is, after the elimination of the usual seasonal fluctuations, the number of persons in employment grew slightly by 10,000 in September 2019 month on month.
Number of persons in employment in the 3rd quarter of 2019 up 0.8% on the same quarter of 2018
In the period July to September 2019, the average number of persons in employment whose place of employment was in Germany (domestic concept) was roughly 45.4 million according to provisional calculations. The number of persons in employment in the third quarter of 2019 increased by 0.8% (+356,000) compared with the same quarter a year earlier. Detailed results for the third quarter of 2019 will be released on 18 November 2019.
Adjusted unemployment rate unchanged at 3.1%
According to results of the labour force survey, 1.32 million people were unemployed in September. This was a decrease of 106,000 people compared with the same month a year earlier (-7.7%). Adjusted for seasonal and irregular effects, the number of unemployed stood at 1.32 million, too. It remained constant compared with the previous month. The adjusted unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.1% in September 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 method JDemetra+. | ||||||
| 2017 | January | 43.584 | -0.8 | 1.4 | 43.860 | 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 | 43.995 | 0.1 | |
| May | 44.038 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 44.035 | 0.1 | |
| June | 44.104 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 44.105 | 0.2 | |
| July | 44.132 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 44.159 | 0.1 | |
| August | 44.164 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 44.200 | 0.1 | |
| September | 44.436 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 44.255 | 0.1 | |
| October | 44.529 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 44.290 | 0.1 | |
| November | 44.634 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 44.353 | 0.1 | |
| December | 44.528 | -0.2 | 1.3 | 44.417 | 0.1 | |
| 2018 | January | 44.244 | -0.6 | 1.5 | 44.511 | 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 | 44.603 | 0.1 | |
| May | 44.657 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 44.652 | 0.1 | |
| June | 44.675 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 44.680 | 0.1 | |
| July | 44.695 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 44.726 | 0.1 | |
| August | 44.737 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 44.774 | 0.1 | |
| September | 44.967 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 44.792 | 0.0 | |
| October | 45.078 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 44.846 | 0.1 | |
| November | 45.179 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 44.898 | 0.1 | |
| December | 45.056 | -0.3 | 1.2 | 44.943 | 0.1 | |
| 2019 | January | 44.742 | -0.7 | 1.1 | 45.000 | 0.1 |
| February | 44.802 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 45.038 | 0.1 | |
| March | 44.879 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 45.048 | 0.0 | |
| April | 45.010 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 45.074 | 0.1 | |
| May | 45.089 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 45.083 | 0.0 | |
| June | 45.066 | -0.1 | 0.9 | 45.075 | 0.0 | |
| July | 45.064 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 45.097 | 0.0 | |
| August | 45.073 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 45.112 | 0.0 | |
| September | 45.294 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 45.122 | 0.0 | |
| September 2019 | Previous month | Same month of the previous year | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2019 | Change | September 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 | 1.32 | 1.39 | -5.0 | 1.43 | -7.7 |
| Persons in employment | 42.26 | 42.18 | 0.2 | 42.18 | 0.2 |
| shares in % | in % | shares in % | in % | ||
| Unemployment rate 2 | 3.0 | 3.2 | -6.3 | 3.3 | -9.1 |
| Employment rate 3 | 68.6 | 68.5 | 0.1 | 67.9 | 1.0 |
| Adjusted results 4 | |||||
| in million | in % | in million | in % | ||
| Unemployed persons | 1.32 | 1.32 | 0.0 | 1.45 | -9.0 |
| Persons in employment | 41.98 | 41.97 | 0.0 | 41.81 | 0.4 |
| shares in % | in percentage points | shares in % | in percentage points | ||
| Unemployment rate 2 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 0.0 | 3.4 | -0.3 |
| Men | 3.5 | 3.5 | 0.0 | 3.7 | -0.2 |
| Women | 2.6 | 2.6 | 0.0 | 2.9 | -0.3 |
| Persons aged under 25 years | 5.9 | 5.9 | 0.0 | 6.0 | -0.1 |
| Persons aged 25 to 74 years | 2.7 | 2.7 | 0.0 | 3.1 | -0.4 |
| Employment rate 3 | 68.2 | 68.1 | 0.1 | 67.3 | 0.9 |
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)
Methodological notes:
The results provided by the employment accounts and the labour force survey for the number of persons in employment are not the same. The differences are due to the different conceptual approaches applied in the two statistical systems. For more information on the reasons why the results from the labour force survey differ from those of the employment accounts please refer to the explanatory notes on the statistics.
In addition to the first calculation of the number of persons in employment for September 2019, the provisional monthly employment results were recalculated for the year 2019. For this purpose, all additional sources of employment statistics that had become available until the time of calculation were taken into account. For the monthly employment figures, the recalculation resulted in year-on-year change rates which, in the months of April, May and August, are each by 0.1 percentage points higher than the results published earlier.
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.
