Press release No. 206 of 1 June 2021
Persons in employment resident in Germany, April 2021
0.0% on the previous month (seasonally adjusted)
0.2% on the previous month (not seasonally adjusted)
-0.5% on the same month of the previous year
WIESBADEN – Roughly 44.4 million people resident in Germany (national concept) were in employment in April 2021 according to provisional calculations of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). The seasonally adjusted number of persons in employment rose slightly by 10,000, or 0.0%, in April 2021 compared with the previous month. The number of persons in employment is still markedly below the pre-crisis level. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the number of persons in employment in April 2021 was down by 1.6%, or 735,000, on February 2020, the month before restrictions were imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic in Germany.
Without seasonal adjustment, the number of persons in employment in April 2021 rose on March 2021, that is, by 109,000 people, or +0.2%. In April 2020, by contrast, when the coronavirus crisis started, employmentdecreased by 285,000 people (-0.6%) on the previous month. Nevertheless, the spring upturn in the labour market that is usually observed in April was relatively weak this year. The month-on-month increase in April 2021 was markedly smaller than in April of the five pre-crisis years 2015 to 2019 (average of +143,000 people).
After over a year of coronavirus pandemic: no real recovery in the labour market
Compared with April 2020, the number of persons in employment was down by 0.5% (-234,000 people) in April 2021. The year-on-year decrease in the number of persons in employment slowed down markedly. The year-on-year change rate had been -1.7% in February 2021 and -1.4% in March 2021. However, this mathematically good development did not correspond to real recovery in the labour market. It is mainly due to the sharp fall in the number of persons in employment in April 2020 (-0.9% or -404,000 people on April 2019), when the coronavirus crisis started to have a strong impact on the labour market. Consequently, the negative year-on-year comparison in April 2021 is less strong than in March 2021 (base effect). The last time employment increased noticeably was in the pre-crisis month of February 2020, that is, by 0.4% (+201,000) compared to February 2019.
Please note that short-time workers are not counted as unemployed but as persons in employment in accordance with the employment accounts and labour force survey concepts.
Unemployment rate remained at 4.6% in April 2021
According to estimates based on the labour force survey, 2.01 million people were unemployed in April 2021. That was a decrease of 29,000, or -1.4%, compared with March 2021. Compared with April 2020, the number of unemployed people increased by 125,000 (+6.6%). The unemployment rate remained unchanged on the previous month at 4.6% in April 2021.
Methodological notes:
The differing comparative periods must be taken into account in all press releases on short-term indicators. Short-term economic monitoring focuses on comparisons with the previous month or previous quarter. These reflect short-term economic trends. A comparison with the previous year is intended to offer a long-term comparison of levels and is not subject to seasonal fluctuations. Owing to strong temporary decreases during the current coronavirus crisis, the results of month-on-month/quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year comparisons may differ considerably. To enable a direct comparison with the pre-crisis level, all press releases on short-term indicators available in seasonally adjusted form will, for the time being, include a comparison with February 2020 or the 4th quarter of 2019.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, estimating the numbers of persons in employment and of unemployed at present involves higher uncertainty than usual. In addition, data collection problems have affected the estimation of unemployment figures.
The number of persons in employment from the employment accounts differs from that of the labour force survey. The differences are mainly due to the different conceptual approaches (national or domestic concept) used in the two statistical systems. For more information on the reasons why the results of 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 involved restrictions ever since. Therefore, the results as from January 2020 have been determined by means of an estimate based on the results for the previous periods, considering current developments.
| 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+. | ||||||
| 2018 | January | 44.266 | -0.6 | 1.5 | 44.511 | 0.2 |
| February | 44.317 | 0.1 | 1.5 | 44.537 | 0.1 | |
| March | 44.411 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 44.586 | 0.1 | |
| April | 44.554 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 44.632 | 0.1 | |
| May | 44.673 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 44.687 | 0.1 | |
| June | 44.690 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 44.716 | 0.1 | |
| July | 44.709 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 44.758 | 0.1 | |
| August | 44.754 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 44.808 | 0.1 | |
| September | 44.981 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 44.800 | 0.0 | |
| October | 45.094 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 44.846 | 0.1 | |
| November | 45.195 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 44.903 | 0.1 | |
| December | 45.072 | -0.3 | 1.2 | 44.942 | 0.1 | |
| 2019 | January | 44.773 | -0.7 | 1.1 | 44.999 | 0.1 |
| February | 44.836 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 45.039 | 0.1 | |
| March | 44.912 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 45.093 | 0.1 | |
| April | 45.046 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 45.130 | 0.1 | |
| May | 45.110 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 45.129 | 0.0 | |
| June | 45.092 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 45.131 | 0.0 | |
| July | 45.093 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 45.152 | 0.0 | |
| August | 45.077 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 45.136 | 0.0 | |
| September | 45.321 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 45.140 | 0.0 | |
| October | 45.411 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 45.156 | 0.0 | |
| November | 45.473 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 45.177 | 0.0 | |
| December | 45.327 | -0.3 | 0.6 | 45.191 | 0.0 | |
| 2020 | January | 45.004 | -0.7 | 0.5 | 45.218 | 0.1 |
| February | 45.037 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 45.230 | 0.0 | |
| March | 44.927 | -0.2 | 0.0 | 45.112 | -0.3 | |
| April | 44.642 | -0.6 | -0.9 | 44.727 | -0.9 | |
| May | 44.478 | -0.4 | -1.4 | 44.502 | -0.5 | |
| June | 44.464 | 0.0 | -1.4 | 44.514 | 0.0 | |
| July | 44.447 | 0.0 | -1.4 | 44.512 | 0.0 | |
| August | 44.475 | 0.1 | -1.3 | 44.541 | 0.1 | |
| September | 44.744 | 0.6 | -1.3 | 44.565 | 0.1 | |
| October | 44.831 | 0.2 | -1.3 | 44.575 | 0.0 | |
| November | 44.832 | 0.0 | -1.4 | 44.538 | -0.1 | |
| December | 44.665 | -0.4 | -1.5 | 44.527 | 0.0 | |
2021 | January | 44.287 | -0.8 | -1.6 | 44.490 | -0.1 |
| February | 44.286 | 0.0 | -1.7 | 44.467 | -0.1 | |
| March | 44.299 | 0.0 | -1.4 | 44.485 | 0.0 | |
| April | 44.408 | 0.2 | -0.5 | 44.495 | 0.0 | |
| April 2021 3 | Previous month | Same month of the previous year | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2021 3 | Change | April 2020 3 | Change | ||
| 1 Persons in households aged 15 to 74 years. 2 Discrepancies may occur as the results are presented in a rounded form. 3 Estimation based on the previous periods due to limited data collection. 4 Share of unemployed in the labour force (persons in employment and unemployed) aged 15 to 74 years. 5 Share of persons in employment in all persons aged 15 to 74 years. 6 Trend cycle component (X-13-ARIMA method using JDemetra+; calculation by Eurostat). | |||||
| Original values | |||||
| in million | in % | in million | in % | ||
| Unemployed persons | 2.01 | 2.04 | -1.4 | 1.89 | 6.6 |
| Persons in employment | 42.01 | 42.03 | -0.1 | 42.09 | -0.2 |
| shares in % | in % | shares in % | in % | ||
| Unemployment rate 4 | 4.6 | 4.6 | -1.3 | 4.3 | 6.5 |
| Employment rate 5 | 67.6 | 67.7 | -0.1 | 67.6 | 0.0 |
| Adjusted results 6 | |||||
| in million | in % | in million | in % | ||
| Unemployed persons | 1.95 | 1.97 | -1.1 | 1.77 | 10.5 |
| Persons in employment | 42.24 | 42.21 | 0.1 | 42.49 | -0.6 |
| shares in % | in percentage points | shares in % | in percentage points | ||
| Unemployment rate 4 | 4.4 | 4.5 | -0.1 | 4.0 | 0.4 |
| Men | 4.4 | 4.5 | 0.0 | 4.1 | 0.3 |
| Women | 4.4 | 4.5 | -0.1 | 3.8 | 0.5 |
| Persons aged under 25 years | 6.0 | 6.1 | -0.2 | 5.9 | 0.0 |
| Persons aged 25 to 74 years | 4.2 | 4.3 | 0.0 | 3.8 | 0.5 |
| Employment rate 5 | 68.0 | 68.0 | 0.1 | 68.3 | -0.3 |
Crisis Monitor enables comparison between corona crisis and financial and economic crisis
The employment figures also form part of the “Crisis Monitor” (www.destatis.de/krisenmonitor) by means of which the Federal Statistical Office compares the development of major short-term indicators in the corona crisis and in the financial and economic crisis of 2008/2009. The Crisis monitor complements the “Corona statistics” webpage (www.destatis.de/corona), which provides statistical information on the economic and social consequences of the corona pandemic.
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).
