Press release No. 371 of 27 September 2024
Persons in employment resident in Germany, August 2024
0.0% on the previous month (seasonally adjusted)
-0.1% on the previous month (not seasonally adjusted)
+0.3% on the same month a year earlier
WIESBADEN – Roughly 45.9 million persons resident in Germany were in employment in August 2024. According to provisional calculations of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the seasonally adjusted number of persons in employment declined slightly by 21,000 (0.0%) compared with the previous month. In June and July 2024, the number of persons in employment increased slightly month on month by 7,000 and 4,000, respectively.
Without seasonal adjustment, the number of persons in employment in August 2024 was also down compared with July 2024 (-35,000, or -0.1%). The month-on-month decline in the number of persons in employment therefore exceeded the result for August 2023 (‑15,000 from July 2023).
Year-on-year upward trend, slowing momentum
Compared with August 2023, the number of persons in employment in August 2024 was up by 0.3%, or 145,000. In the period from February to July 2024, the year-on-year change rate was +0.4% each month. The year-on-year comparison therefore shows that the long-term positive trend on the labour market continued, but the momentum has slowed.
Adjusted unemployment rate at 3.5% in August 2024
According to results of the labour force survey, 1.70 million people were unemployed in August 2024. This represented an increase of 289,000, or 20.5%, compared with August 2023. The unemployment rate rose to 3.8% (August 2023: 3.2%).
Adjusted for seasonal and irregular effects, the number of unemployed stood at 1.57 million in August 2024, which was a slight increase of 3,000 on July 2024 (+0.2%). Compared with the previous month, the adjusted unemployment rate remained at 3.5%.
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. Year-on-year comparisons, by contrast, enable long-term comparisons of levels and are largely unaffected by seasonal fluctuations.
The number of persons in employment from the employment accounts differs from that of the labour force survey, which has been integrated into the microcensus. The differences are mainly due to the different conceptual approaches of the two statistical systems (national and domestic concept). Background information on the differences in the results is available in the explanatory notes (only in German) on the statistics. For information on the microcensus and the labour force survey please refer to the relevant theme page (only in German) on the website of the Federal Statistical Office.
Persons in employment and unemployed persons are counted according to the employment status concept of the International Labour Organization (ILO). Therefore, the unemployment figures shown here differ from registered unemployment as determined and published by the Federal Employment Agency in accordance with the German Social Code. In the European Statistical System, the results of the labour force surveys are used as a standard basis for calculating unemployment rates.
More information:
A table containing monthly results on the number of persons in employment (unadjusted values and seasonally adjusted values) from the employment accounts is shown on the employment page of the Federal Statistical Office’s website. Tables containing unemployment results (only in German) from the labour force survey including the unemployment rate are also available on this page. Detailed data and long time series are available from the GENESIS-Online database. Data on persons in employment from the employment accounts are available in tables 13321-0001 (months), 13321-0002 (quarters). Due to the 2024 major revision of national accounts (only in German), detailed annual results are expected to be available in table 81000-0011 from the start of September. Monthly data on persons in employment and unemployed persons from the labour force survey can be found in tables 13231-0001 (overview), 13321-0002 (unemployed persons, persons in employment and economically active population) and 13231-0003 (unemployment rates).
Labour market results are also available on Dashboard Germany at www.dashboard-deutschland.de (only in German). In this data portal, the Federal Statistical Office brings together up-to-date indicators from official statistics producers and other data providers on the topics of the economy, finance, the labour market, construction, housing, energy and Ukraine. The portal also contains the Economic Pulse Monitor (Pulsmesser für die Wirtschaft) tool (only in German) for real-time economic monitoring.
Special webpage on skilled labour:
A special webpage of the Federal Statistical Office combines facts and figures on the subject of skilled labour (www.destatis.de/fachkraefte) (only in German). It provides data on demography, employment, education and immigration. The information offered ranges from projections of the future size of the labour force to analyses of the labour supply and data on labour migration and the vocational training market. New information is added continually.
Important information regarding the GENESIS-Online database:
Our database's new user interface will leave the beta phase and go online in the second half of October 2024. The new interface will offer faster data retrieval and intuitive table search and customisation options. There will also be changes to the structure of the machine-readable flat file (CSV) format and the data output format for table downloads. For further details and other important information on the release, please see the info page of the new GENESIS-Online database.
