Press release No. 115 of 31 March 2020
Persons in employment resident in Germany, February 2020
+0.5% on the same month a year earlier
+0.1% on the previous month
0.0% on the previous month (seasonally adjusted)
WIESBADEN – Roughly 45.0 million persons resident in Germany (national concept) were in employment in February 2020 according to provisional calculations of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). Compared with February 2019, the number of persons in employment increased by 0.5% (+214,000). The slight employment growth of the previous months thus continued. In January 2020 the year-on-year change rate was 0.5%, too, in November and December 2019 it had been 0.6%. In February, the beginning coronavirus pandemic did not yet have a notable impact on employment figures in Germany.
Growth markedly below five-year average
According to provisional results of the employment accounts, the number of persons in employment rose by 36,000, or 0.1%, in February 2020 on the previous month. This is a much smaller month-on-month increase than the relevant average for February in the past five years (+67,000 people). After seasonal adjustment, that is, after the elimination of the usual seasonal fluctuations, the number of persons in employment increased by 17,000 in February 2020 compared with January 2020.
Adjusted unemployment rate at 3.2% in February 2020
According to results of the labour force survey, 1.50 million people were unemployed in February. This was an increase of 128,000 compared with the same month a year earlier (+9.5%). The unemployment rate was 3.4%. Adjusted for seasonal and irregular effects, the number of unemployed fell slightly to 1.40 million month on month. As in the preceding month, the adjusted unemployment rate stood at 3.2% in February 2020.
| 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 | 43.965 | 0.1 | |
| April | 43.929 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 43.996 | 0.1 | |
| May | 44.038 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 44.039 | 0.1 | |
| June | 44.104 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 44.108 | 0.2 | |
| July | 44.132 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 44.160 | 0.1 | |
| August | 44.164 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 44.202 | 0.1 | |
| September | 44.436 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 44.254 | 0.1 | |
| October | 44.529 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 44.287 | 0.1 | |
| November | 44.634 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 44.350 | 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 | 44.536 | 0.1 | |
| March | 44.393 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 44.563 | 0.1 | |
| April | 44.538 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 44.604 | 0.1 | |
| May | 44.657 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 44.657 | 0.1 | |
| June | 44.675 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 44.683 | 0.1 | |
| 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 | 44.792 | 0.0 | |
| October | 45.078 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 44.841 | 0.1 | |
| November | 45.179 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 44.895 | 0.1 | |
| December | 45.056 | -0.3 | 1.2 | 44.939 | 0.1 | |
| 2019 | January | 44.742 | -0.7 | 1.1 | 44.995 | 0.1 |
| February | 44.802 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 45.035 | 0.1 | |
| March | 44.878 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 45.049 | 0.0 | |
| April | 45.012 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 45.077 | 0.1 | |
| May | 45.076 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 45.076 | 0.0 | |
| June | 45.057 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 45.071 | 0.0 | |
| July | 45.057 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 45.094 | 0.1 | |
| August | 45.064 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 45.108 | 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 | |
| 2020 | January | 44.980 | -0.8 | 0.5 | 45.227 | 0.0 |
| February | 45.016 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 45.244 | 0.0 | |
| February 2020 5 | Previous month | Same month of the previous year | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2020 5 | Change | February 2019 | 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). 5 Estimation based on the previous period due to limited data collection | |||||
| Original values | |||||
| in million | in % | in million | in % | ||
| Unemployed persons | 1.50 | 1.48 | 1.4 | 1.37 | 9.5 |
| Persons in employment | 42.75 | 42.88 | -0.3 | 41.85 | 2.2 |
| shares in % | in % | shares in % | in % | ||
| Unemployment rate 2 | 3.4 | 3.3 | 3.0 | 3.2 | 6.3 |
| Employment rate 3 | 68.7 | 68.9 | -0.3 | 67.7 | 1.5 |
| Adjusted results 4 | |||||
| in million | in % | in million | in % | ||
| Unemployed persons | 1.40 | 1.41 | -0.7 | 1.39 | 0.7 |
| Persons in employment | 42.88 | 42.80 | 0.2 | 41.93 | 2.3 |
| shares in % | in percentage points | shares in % | in percentage points | ||
| Unemployment rate 2 | 3.2 | 3.2 | 0.0 | 3.2 | 0.0 |
| Men | 3.6 | 3.6 | 0.0 | 3.5 | 0.1 |
| Women | 2.6 | 2.7 | -0.1 | 2.9 | -0.3 |
| Persons aged under 25 years | 5.3 | 5.4 | -0.1 | 5.7 | -0.4 |
| Persons aged 25 to 74 years | 2.9 | 2.9 | 0.0 | 2.9 | 0.0 |
| Employment rate 3 | 68.9 | 68.8 | 0.1 | 67.8 | 1.1 |
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 German Social Code. In the European Statistical System, the results of the labour force survey are used as a standard basis for calculating unemployment rates.
The microcensus and the integrated labour force survey were redesigned both in technical and in methodological terms; the new approach was introduced at the beginning of 2020. For technical reasons, data collection has been limited since the beginning of this year. Therefore the results for January and February 2020 were estimated based on the results of the previous period.
