Press release No. 002 of 3 January 2017
WIESBADEN – In November 2016, roughly 43.8 million persons resident in Germany were in employment according to provisional calculations of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). Compared with November 2015, the number of persons in employment increased by 305,000 or 0.7%. Although employment rose further compared with one year earlier, the increase slowed notably in the second half-year. Having amounted to 1.1% in June 2016, the year-on-year rate of change was down to 0.9% in July and 0.8% in the months of August to October to stand at 0.7% in November. Approximately 1.7 million people were unemployed in November 2016, 234,000 fewer than a year earlier.
According to provisional results of the employment accounts, the number of persons in employment rose by 44,000, or 0.1%, on the previous month. The increase on October was slightly higher than the relevant average of the past five years (+37,000 people). After seasonal adjustment, that is, after the elimination of the usual seasonal fluctuations, the number of persons in employment increased by 34,000, or 0.1%, in November 2016 month on month.
In addition to the first calculation of the number of persons in employment for the current reference month of November 2016, the monthly employment results published so far were recalculated for the period from January 2016 in the context of estimating a first provisional result for the year 2016 (see press release 1/17 of 2 January 2017). Regarding the months of July to September, the recalculated year-on-year rates of change, at the level of the overall economy, are 0.1 percentage points lower than the previously calculated results.
Results of the labour force survey show that there were 1.71 million unemployed in November 2016. Compared with the previous month, the number decreased by 17,000 or 0.6%. Adjusted for seasonal and irregular effects, the number of unemployed stood at 1.76 million. It was down by approximately 12,000 people from the previous month. As in October 2016, the adjusted unemployment rate stood at 4.1% in November 2016.
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), 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 (months).
| 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 (resident concept). 2 Seasonal adjustment by Census X-12-Arima. | ||||||
| 2014 | January | 42.159 | –0.7 | 0.7 | 42.465 | 0.2 |
| February | 42.202 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 42.507 | 0.1 | |
| March | 42.315 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 42.523 | 0.0 | |
| April | 42.474 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 42.567 | 0.1 | |
| May | 42.570 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 42.566 | 0.0 | |
| June | 42.621 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 42.591 | 0.1 | |
| July | 42.641 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 42.632 | 0.1 | |
| August | 42.660 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 42.632 | 0.0 | |
| September | 42.858 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 42.656 | 0.1 | |
| October | 42.969 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 42.689 | 0.1 | |
| November | 42.964 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 42.680 | 0.0 | |
| December | 42.781 | –0.4 | 0.7 | 42.715 | 0.1 | |
| 2015 | January | 42.429 | –0.8 | 0.6 | 42.741 | 0.1 |
| February | 42.471 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 42.776 | 0.1 | |
| March | 42.634 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 42.835 | 0.1 | |
| April | 42.792 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 42.880 | 0.1 | |
| May | 42.913 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 42.905 | 0.1 | |
| June | 42.992 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 42.955 | 0.1 | |
| July | 43.023 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 43.007 | 0.1 | |
| August | 43.070 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 43.046 | 0.1 | |
| September | 43.282 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 43.083 | 0.1 | |
| October | 43.386 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 43.110 | 0.1 | |
| November | 43.458 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 43.175 | 0.2 | |
| December | 43.302 | –0.4 | 1.2 | 43.237 | 0.1 | |
| 2016 | January | 42.946 | –0.8 | 1.2 | 43.266 | 0.1 |
| February | 43.008 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 43.317 | 0.1 | |
| March | 43.170 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 43.367 | 0.1 | |
| April | 43.288 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 43.372 | 0.0 | |
| May | 43.418 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 43.407 | 0.1 | |
| June | 43.468 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 43.424 | 0.0 | |
| July | 43.422 | –0.1 | 0.9 | 43.405 | 0.0 | |
| August | 43.431 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 43.410 | 0.0 | |
| September | 43.631 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 43.432 | 0.1 | |
| October | 43.719 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 43.447 | 0.0 | |
| November | 43.763 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 43.481 | 0.1 | |
| November 2016 | Previous month | Same month of the previous year | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2016 | Change | November 2015 | Change | ||
| 1 Persons in households aged 15 to 74 years. Extrapolated on the basis of key population figures from the 2011 Census. 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-12-ARIMA method using Demetra+; calculation by Eurostat). | |||||
| Original values | |||||
| in million | in % | in million | in % | ||
| Unemployed persons | 1.71 | 1.72 | –0.6 | 1.94 | –11.9 |
| Persons in employment | 41.86 | 41.75 | 0.3 | 40.70 | 2.9 |
| shares in % | in % | shares in % | in % | ||
| Unemployment rate 2 | 3.9 | 4.0 | –2.5 | 4.5 | –13.3 |
| Employment rate 3 | 67.0 | 66.7 | 0.4 | 65.9 | 1.7 |
| Adjusted results 4 | |||||
| in million | in % | in million | in % | ||
| Unemployed persons | 1.76 | 1.77 | –0.6 | 1.88 | –6.4 |
| Persons in employment | 41.65 | 41.57 | 0.2 | 40.33 | 3.3 |
| shares in % | in % | shares in % | in % | ||
| Unemployment rate 2 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 0.0 | 4.5 | –0.4 |
| including: | |||||
| Men | 4.5 | 4.5 | 0.0 | 4.7 | –0.2 |
| Women | 3.5 | 3.6 | –0.1 | 4.2 | –0.7 |
| Persons aged under 25 years | 6.7 | 6.8 | –0.1 | 7.1 | –0.4 |
| Persons aged 25 to 74 years | 3.8 | 3.8 | 0.0 | 4.2 | –0.4 |
| Employment rate 3 | 66.7 | 66.4 | 0.3 | 65.3 | 1.4 |
Methodological notes:
As of reference month January 2016, a new sampling frame based on the results of the 2011 Census has been used for the sample of the microcensus and the integrated labour force survey. As a result of the changeover, comparability over time with microcensus results of previous years may be limited. Studying in depth the potential effects of introducing the new sampling frame will be possible only when more results become available.
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 the European Statistical System, the results of the labour force survey are used as a standard basis for calculating unemployment rates.
Annual results, quarterly results and more monthly results are available: Employment.
Under “Unemployment”, the results adjusted by means of the Berlin method (BV4.1) are additionally available (trend cycle component).