Press release No. 041 of 31 January 2025
Persons in employment resident in Germany, December 2024
0.0% on the previous month (seasonally adjusted)
-0.3% on the previous month (not seasonally adjusted)
-0.1% on the same month a year earlier
WIESBADEN – Roughly 46.0 million persons resident in Germany were in employment in December 2024. According to provisional calculations of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the seasonally adjusted number of persons in employment rose only marginally by 4,000 (0.0%) compared with the previous month. Employment increased somewhat more in October and November, by 13,000 and 9,000 persons, respectively. Employment therefore showed a slightly more positive trend again recently following average monthly declines of 20,000 persons in the months of June to September 2024, after adjustment for seasonal variations.
Without seasonal adjustment, the number of persons in employment in December 2024 fell by 125,000 (-0.3%) on November 2024. This month-on-month decrease was larger than the average recorded for December 2022 and December 2023 (-104,000 people).
Slowing employment growth
Compared with December 2023, the number of persons in employment in December 2024 declined by 24,000 (-0.1%). The year-on-year rate of change was 0.0% in September, October and November, and +0.2% in June 2024. The downward trend in employment is therefore continuing, with the number of persons in employment now slightly below the previous year’s level.
Seasonally adjusted number of persons in employment unchanged in the 4th quarter of 2024 compared with the previous quarter
According to provisional calculations, the number of persons in employment whose place of employment was in Germany (domestic concept) averaged roughly 46.3 million in the 4th quarter of 2024. Compared with the previous quarter, the number of persons in employment remained unchanged (+1,000, or 0.0%) after adjustment for seasonal variations. Detailed results for the 4th quarter of 2024 will be released on 18 February 2025.
Adjusted unemployment rate at 3.4% in December 2024
According to results of the labour force survey, 1.44 million people were unemployed in December 2024. That was an increase of 129,000, or 9.9%, compared with December 2023. The unemployment rate rose to 3.2% (December 2023: 2.9%).
Adjusted for seasonal and irregular effects, the number of unemployed stood at 1.52 million in December 2024, which was only a slight increase on November 2024 (+2,000; +0.1%). Compared with the previous month, the adjusted unemployment rate remained at 3.4%.
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.
In addition to calculating first results for the number of persons in employment in reference month November 2024, the Federal Statistical Office also recalculated the monthly employment results published since January 2024 as part of its first estimation of the overall result for 2024 (see Press Release 1 of 2 January 2025). At the level of the overall economy, the recalculated year-on-year rates of change for the months from January to October 2024 are at most 0.1 percentage points lower than the previously calculated results.
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 with unemployment results Tables with 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 provided in the GENESIS-Online database. Data on persons in employment from the employment accounts are available in tables 13321-0001 (months), 13321-0002 (quarters) and 81000-0011 (years). Monthly data on persons in employment and unemployed persons from the labour force survey can be found in tables 13231-0001 (overview), 13231-0002 (unemployed persons, persons in employment and economically active population) and 13231-0003 (unemployment rates).
Results for the labour market can also be found on the Economic Dashboard, which is part of Dashboard Germany (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.
