Press release No. 286 of 18 August 2016
WIESBADEN – Employment continued to increase in the second quarter of 2016 according to provisional results of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). The number of persons in employment whose place of employment was in Germany amounted to 43.5 million, which was again markedly above the previous year's level. Compared with the second quarter of 2015, the number of persons in employment increased considerably by 529,000 or 1.2%.
Compared with the first quarter of 2016, the number of persons in employment rose by 461,000 (+1.1%). Actually, seasonal growth in employment is typical in the second quarter of a year due to the general increase in outdoor work in spring. In 2016, however, the increase was higher than the relevant average of the past five years (+429,000 people). After seasonal adjustment, that is, after the elimination of the usual seasonal fluctuations, the number of persons in employment increased by 122,000, or 0.3%, in the second quarter of 2016 compared with the previous quarter.
The year-on-year rise in the total number of persons in employment in the second quarter of 2016 was mainly due to the growth in the service sector. The largest absolute employment gains were recorded for public services, education, health (+207,000 people or +2.0%), followed by business services (+169,000 people or +2.9%) and trade, transport, accommodation and food services (+141,000 people or +1.4%). In industry (excluding construction), the number of persons in employment was up by 17,000 (+0.2%) and in construction by 30,000 (+1.2%) in the second quarter of 2016 compared with a year earlier. In agriculture, forestry and fishing, the number of persons in employment decreased by 17,000 (–2.5%).
Compared with the second quarter a year earlier, the number of employees increased by 559,000 (+1.4%) to 39.2 million in the second quarter of 2016. This growth was based on the continued positive development regarding jobs subject to social insurance contributions.
In the same period, the number of self-employed including family workers decreased by 30,000 (–0.7%) to 4.3 million, which equalled the 2004 level. However, this was the smallest decline in self-employment since the beginning of 2013.
According to first provisional results of the Institute for Employment Research of the Federal Employment Agency, the average number of hours worked per person in employment increased by 2.1% to 329.5 hours in the second quarter of 2016 compared with the second quarter of 2015.
The total number of hours worked, that is, the number of persons in employment multiplied by the hours worked per person in employment, increased by 3.3% to roughly 14.3 billion hours in the same period.
In addition to the first calculation of the number of persons in employment and the number of hours worked for the second quarter of 2016, the results published so far for the individual quarters from the first quarter of 2012 were recalculated as part of the regular revision of national accounts. The recalculation resulted, at the level of the overall economy, in year-on-year change rates of the quarterly employment data that are by a maximum of 0.2 percentage points higher or 0.1 percentage points lower than the results published earlier.
| Year, Quarter 1 | Persons in employment 2 | Hours worked 3 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Employees | Self- employed 4 | by persons in employment | per person in employment | ||
| Persons in 1,000 | mn hours | hours | ||||
| 1 For persons in employment: annual and/or quarterly averages. 2 Results of employment accounts as part of national accounts; persons in employment whose place of employment is in Germany (domestic concept). 3 Source: Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (Institute for Employment Research) of the Bundesagentur für Arbeit (Federal Employment Agency), Nuremberg. 4 Including family workers. qtr = quarter | ||||||
| 2013 | 42,328 | 37,870 | 4,458 | 57,657 | 1,362.1 | |
| 2014 | 42,662 | 38,260 | 4,402 | 58,343 | 1,367.6 | |
| 2015 | 43,057 | 38,721 | 4,336 | 58,895 | 1,367.8 | |
| 2013 | 1st qtr | 41,892 | 37,421 | 4,471 | 14,471 | 345.4 |
| 2nd qtr | 42,262 | 37,780 | 4,482 | 13,707 | 324.3 | |
| 3rd qtr | 42,512 | 38,045 | 4,467 | 14,858 | 349.5 | |
| 4th qtr | 42,644 | 38,233 | 4,411 | 14,620 | 342.8 | |
| 2014 | 1st qtr | 42,214 | 37,799 | 4,415 | 14,811 | 350.8 |
| 2nd qtr | 42,626 | 38,207 | 4,419 | 13,761 | 322.8 | |
| 3rd qtr | 42,849 | 38,433 | 4,416 | 14,963 | 349.2 | |
| 4th qtr | 42,958 | 38,601 | 4,357 | 14,809 | 344.7 | |
| 2015 | 1st qtr | 42,512 | 38,156 | 4,356 | 14,881 | 350.0 |
| 2nd qtr | 42,985 | 38,641 | 4,344 | 13,876 | 322.8 | |
| 3rd qtr | 43,272 | 38,925 | 4,347 | 15,060 | 348.0 | |
| 4th qtr | 43,457 | 39,162 | 4,295 | 15,077 | 347.0 | |
| 2016 | 1st qtr | 43,053 | 38,742 | 4,311 | 14,913 | 346.4 |
| 2nd qtr | 43,514 | 39,200 | 4,314 | 14,337 | 329.5 | |
| Change in % on the corresponding period of the previous year | ||||||
| 2013 | 0.6 | 1.0 | –2.2 | –0.3 | –0.9 | |
| 2014 | 0.8 | 1.0 | –1.3 | 1.2 | 0.4 | |
| 2015 | 0.9 | 1.2 | –1.5 | 0.9 | 0.0 | |
| 2013 | 1st qtr | 0.8 | 1.1 | –2.1 | –2.8 | –3.5 |
| 2nd qtr | 0.7 | 1.0 | –2.1 | 0.6 | –0.0 | |
| 3rd qtr | 0.6 | 1.0 | –2.5 | 0.8 | 0.2 | |
| 4th qtr | 0.5 | 0.9 | –2.3 | 0.2 | –0.3 | |
| 2014 | 1st qtr | 0.8 | 1.0 | –1.3 | 2.3 | 1.6 |
| 2nd qtr | 0.9 | 1.1 | –1.4 | 0.4 | –0.5 | |
| 3rd qtr | 0.8 | 1.0 | –1.1 | 0.7 | –0.1 | |
| 4th qtr | 0.7 | 1.0 | –1.2 | 1.3 | 0.6 | |
| 2015 | 1st qtr | 0.7 | 0.9 | –1.3 | 0.5 | –0.2 |
| 2nd qtr | 0.8 | 1.1 | –1.7 | 0.8 | 0.0 | |
| 3rd qtr | 1.0 | 1.3 | –1.6 | 0.7 | –0.3 | |
| 4th qtr | 1.2 | 1.5 | –1.4 | 1.8 | 0.7 | |
| 2016 | 1st qtr | 1.3 | 1.5 | –1.0 | 0.2 | –1.0 |
| 2nd qtr | 1.2 | 1.4 | –0.7 | 3.3 | 2.1 | |
| Sector of economic activity 2 | 2015 | 2015 | 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st qtr | 2nd qtr | 3rd qtr | 4th qtr | 1st qtr | 2nd qtr | ||
| persons (1,000) | |||||||
| 1 Results of employment accounts as part of national accounts (domestic concept); annual and quarterly averages. 2 Classification of Economic Activities, 2008 edition (WZ 2008). qtr = quarter | |||||||
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 637 | 612 | 676 | 654 | 604 | 587 | 659 |
| Industry, excluding construction | 8,087 | 8,050 | 8,061 | 8,114 | 8,125 | 8,060 | 8,078 |
| including: | |||||||
| Manufacturing | 7,512 | 7,476 | 7,487 | 7,538 | 7,549 | 7,493 | 7,509 |
| Construction | 2,430 | 2,364 | 2,425 | 2,466 | 2,461 | 2,395 | 2,455 |
| Trade, transport, accommodation and food services | 9,856 | 9,704 | 9,839 | 9,914 | 9,978 | 9,848 | 9,980 |
| Information and communication | 1,213 | 1,206 | 1,214 | 1,217 | 1,218 | 1,218 | 1,221 |
| Financial and insurance activities | 1,187 | 1,189 | 1,183 | 1,186 | 1,194 | 1,182 | 1,175 |
| Real estate activities | 467 | 464 | 466 | 468 | 468 | 464 | 461 |
| Business services | 5,757 | 5,621 | 5,729 | 5,830 | 5,842 | 5,785 | 5,898 |
| Public services, education, health | 10,462 | 10,387 | 10,434 | 10,437 | 10,593 | 10,589 | 10,641 |
| Other services | 2,961 | 2,915 | 2,958 | 2,986 | 2,974 | 2,925 | 2,946 |
| Change in % on the corresponding period of the previous year | |||||||
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | –1.8 | –1.1 | –1.7 | –1.5 | –3.7 | –4.1 | –2.5 |
| Industry, excluding construction | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
| including: | |||||||
| Manufacturing | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.3 |
| Construction | –0.2 | –0.4 | –0.8 | –0.3 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 1.2 |
| Trade, transport, accommodation and food services | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 1.4 |
| Information and communication | –1.4 | –2.0 | –1.7 | –1.4 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 0.6 |
| Financial and insurance activities | –0.2 | –0.1 | –0.2 | 0.0 | –0.3 | –0.6 | –0.7 |
| Real estate activities | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 0.0 | –1.1 |
| Business services | 2.5 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.7 | 2.9 | 2.9 |
| Public services, education, health | 1.8 | 1.5 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 1.9 | 2.0 |
| Other services | 1.3 | 0.5 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 1.2 | 0.3 | –0.4 |
The current national accounts data on employment by quarters and years and the current monthly time series are available on the labour market web pages.
Detailed data and long time series on persons in employment and the number of hours worked are available in the GENESIS-Online database in the tables on national accounts of the Federation (81000-0012 and 81000-0016) and on the labour market (13321).