Press release No. 031 of 30 January 2020
WIESBADEN – Roughly 45.3 million persons resident in Germany (national concept) were in employment in December 2019 according to provisional calculations of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). Compared with December 2018, the number of persons in employment increased by 0.6% (+271,000). The year-on-year change rate had been +1.1% in January 2019 and +0.9% in June. This means that employment growth continued but slowed in the course of 2019.
Usual seasonal decline in employment on November 2019
According to provisional results of the employment accounts, the number of persons in employment decreased by 145,000, or 0.3%, in December 2019 month on month, which is a usual seasonal phenomenon. The month-on-month decline was stronger than the relevant average of the past five years (-134,000 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 December 2019 compared with November 2019.
Employment in the 4th quarter of 2019 up 0.7% on the same quarter of 2018
According to provisional calculations, the number of persons in employment whose place of employment was in Germany amounted to roughly 45.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2019. Compared with a year earlier, the number of persons in employment increased by 301,000 or 0.7%. Detailed results for the fourth quarter of 2019 will be released by the Federal Statistical Office on 18 February 2020.
Recalculation of employment figures as of January 2019
In addition to the first calculation of the number of persons in employment for December 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. Regarding the monthly employment figures, the recalculation resulted in year-on-year change rates which only for November were by 0.1 percentage points lower than the results published earlier. These were the only changes that resulted from the recalculation. The annual result of 45.3 million persons in employment (domestic concept) and the year-on-year change rate of +0.9%, which were communicated in the press release of 2 January 2020 (No. 001/20), remained unchanged, too.
Adjusted number of unemployed standing at 1.39 million in December 2019
According to results of the labour force survey, 1.40 million people were unemployed in December. This was an increase of 78,000 people compared with the same month a year earlier (+5.3%). The unemployment rate was 3.2%. Adjusted for seasonal and irregular effects, the number of unemployed remained unchanged from the previous month of November, standing at 1.39 million. As in the previous month, the adjusted unemployment rate was 3.2% in December.
| 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 (national 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 X13-ARIMA method using JDemetra+. | ||||||
| 2017 | January | 43.584 | -0.8 | 1.4 | 43.859 | 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 | 44.038 | 0.1 | |
| June | 44.104 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 44.107 | 0.2 | |
| July | 44.132 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 44.160 | 0.1 | |
| August | 44.164 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 44.201 | 0.1 | |
| September | 44.436 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 44.254 | 0.1 | |
| October | 44.529 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 44.288 | 0.1 | |
| November | 44.634 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 44.351 | 0.1 | |
| December | 44.528 | -0.2 | 1.3 | 44.416 | 0.1 | |
| 2018 | January | 44.244 | -0.6 | 1.5 | 44.510 | 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 | 44.602 | 0.1 | |
| May | 44.657 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 44.656 | 0.1 | |
| June | 44.675 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 44.682 | 0.1 | |
| July | 44.695 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 44.727 | 0.1 | |
| August | 44.737 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 44.778 | 0.1 | |
| September | 44.967 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 44.792 | 0.0 | |
| October | 45.078 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 44.842 | 0.1 | |
| November | 45.179 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 44.895 | 0.1 | |
| December | 45.056 | -0.3 | 1.2 | 44.940 | 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 | 44.878 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 45.048 | 0.0 | |
| April | 45.012 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 45.075 | 0.1 | |
| May | 45.076 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 45.074 | 0.0 | |
| June | 45.057 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 45.068 | 0.0 | |
| July | 45.057 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 45.093 | 0.1 | |
| August | 45.064 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 45.107 | 0.0 | |
| September | 45.305 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 45.134 | 0.1 | |
| October | 45.408 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 45.172 | 0.1 | |
| November | 45.472 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 45.188 | 0.0 | |
| December | 45.327 | -0.3 | 0.6 | 45.210 | 0.0 | |
| December 2019 | Previous month | Same month of the previous year | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 2019 | Change | December 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 | 1.40 | 1.36 | 2.9 | 1.33 | 5.3 |
| Persons in employment | 42.57 | 42.27 | 0.7 | 41.76 | 1.9 |
| shares in % | in % | shares in % | in % | ||
| Unemployment rate 2 | 3.2 | 3.1 | 3.2 | 3.1 | 3.2 |
| Employment rate 3 | 68.6 | 68.2 | 0.6 | 67.5 | 1.6 |
| Adjusted results 4 | |||||
| in million | in % | in million | in % | ||
| Unemployed persons | 1.39 | 1.39 | 0.0 | 1.41 | -1.4 |
| Persons in employment | 42.32 | 42.27 | 0.1 | 41.87 | 1.1 |
| shares in % | in percentage points | shares in % | in percentage points | ||
| Unemployment rate 2 | 3.2 | 3.2 | 0.0 | 3.3 | -0.1 |
| Men | 3.6 | 3.6 | 0.0 | 3.6 | 0.0 |
| Women | 2.7 | 2.7 | 0.0 | 2.9 | -0.2 |
| Persons aged under 25 years | 5.8 | 5.8 | 0.0 | 5.8 | 0.0 |
| Persons aged 25 to 74 years | 2.9 | 2.9 | 0.0 | 3.0 | -0.1 |
| Employment rate 3 | 68.2 | 68.2 | 0.0 | 67.7 | 0.5 |
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.
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.
