Employment Structures of the German labour market in the light of the COVID-19-pandemic
The measures introduced in Germany to push back the COVID-19-pandemic have also lead to a significant reduction of economic activities and consequently have effects on the labour market. For persons in employment this can mean reduced working times, slack work (“Kurzarbeit”), or even the loss of employment. On the other side, persons working in so called “essential jobs” might even experience substantially more working hours and a higher work strain.
It is apparent that different parts of the economy and employment are affected in different ways. The following tables present structures of the German labour market before the occurrence of COVID-19 and allow a differentiated assessment of possible diverse effects on employment. A comparable assessment of the actual effects will be possible once enough data on the current situation is available.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) assessed the impact of the crisis due to COVID-19 from a global perspective and classified economic sectors by the extent to which they are impacted. This and more can be found in the report "COVID-19 and the world of work. Third edition" on the statistics internet site of ILO (ILOSTAT).
Employed persons by sex and educational attainment
| Sections of economic activity, (NACE Rev. 2) | Total2 | Sex | Educational attainment | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men | Women | Low | Medium | High | ||
| 1: Highest educational qualification acquired according to ISCED 2011: ISCED levels 1 and 2 = low, 3 and 4 = medium, 5 to 8 = high. 2: Includes cases with "no information on educational attainment". Source: Results of microcensus 2019. | ||||||
| Total | 42,379 | 22,608 | 19,771 | 5,303 | 24,195 | 12,829 |
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A) | 510 | 346 | 165 | 66 | 314 | 130 |
| Mining and quarrying; manufacturing (B, C) | 8,078 | 5,888 | 2,190 | 1,043 | 4,786 | 2,240 |
| Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply; water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (D, E) | 584 | 442 | 142 | 54 | 338 | 191 |
| Construction (F) | 2,857 | 2,437 | 421 | 450 | 1,768 | 637 |
| Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G) | 5,778 | 2,929 | 2,849 | 886 | 3,878 | 1,008 |
| Transportation and storage (H) | 2,141 | 1,614 | 527 | 410 | 1,417 | 309 |
| Accommodation and food service activities (I) | 1,585 | 720 | 865 | 486 | 911 | 183 |
| Information and communication (J) | 1,369 | 931 | 438 | 76 | 578 | 713 |
| Financial and insurance activities (K) | 1,248 | 607 | 641 | 44 | 763 | 441 |
| Real estate activities (L) | 213 | 113 | 101 | 15 | 128 | 70 |
| Professional, scientific and technical activities (M) | 2,469 | 1,249 | 1,219 | 89 | 985 | 1,392 |
| Administrative and support service activities (N) | 2,143 | 1,091 | 1,053 | 494 | 1,256 | 389 |
| Public administration and defence; compulsory social security; extraterritorial organisations and bodies (O, U) | 2,924 | 1,432 | 1,492 | 154 | 1,608 | 1,160 |
| Education (P) | 2,881 | 812 | 2,069 | 123 | 802 | 1,953 |
| Human health and social work activities (Q) | 5,611 | 1,297 | 4,314 | 637 | 3,583 | 1,385 |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation (R) | 590 | 300 | 289 | 77 | 293 | 219 |
| Other service activities (S) | 1,182 | 386 | 796 | 139 | 654 | 387 |
| Households (T) | 215 | 15 | 200 | 58 | 134 | 23 |
As at July 22, 2020
Self-employed with employees by number of persons working at local unit
| Sections of economic activity, (NACE Revision 2) | Total | Self-employed without employees | Self-employed with employees | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total1 | 2 to 10 | 11 to 19 | 20 to 49 | 50 and more | |||
| 1: Includes self-employed with "no information on size of local unit". / = No data because the numerical value is not sufficiently reliable. - = No figures or magnitude zero. X = Table compartment locked because statement does not make sense. Source: Results of microcensus 2019. | |||||||
| Total | 3,957 | 2,152 | 1,805 | 1,328 | 225 | 121 | 74 |
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A) | 178 | 99 | 78 | 72 | / | / | / |
| Mining and quarrying; manufacturing (B, C) | 278 | 116 | 162 | 98 | 24 | 18 | 19 |
| Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply; water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (D, E) | 14 | 7 | 7 | / | / | / | / |
| Construction (F) | 467 | 211 | 256 | 190 | 35 | 15 | 7 |
| Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G) | 495 | 210 | 284 | 208 | 37 | 20 | 10 |
| Transportation and storage (H) | 94 | 36 | 58 | 35 | 9 | 8 | / |
| Accommodation and food service activities (I) | 194 | 45 | 149 | 120 | 17 | 6 | / |
| Information and communication (J) | 168 | 124 | 44 | 28 | 5 | / | / |
| Financial and insurance activities (K) | 125 | 71 | 54 | 45 | / | / | / |
| Real estate activities (L) | 50 | 33 | 17 | 15 | / | / | - |
| Professional, scientific and technical activities (M) | 579 | 356 | 223 | 157 | 32 | 19 | 9 |
| Administrative and support service activities (N) | 240 | 126 | 114 | 86 | 11 | 8 | 5 |
| Public administration and defence; compulsory social security; extraterritorial organisations and bodies (O, U) | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Education (P) | 200 | 173 | 27 | 18 | / | / | / |
| Human health and social work activities (Q) | 432 | 209 | 223 | 162 | 34 | 15 | / |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation (R) | 179 | 155 | 24 | 18 | / | / | / |
| Other service activities (S) | 250 | 167 | 83 | 72 | 5 | / | / |
| Households (T) | 14 | 13 | / | / | - | - | - |
As at July 22, 2020
Employees who work from home
| Sections of economic activity, (NACE Rev. 2) | Total | Working from home | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| on every working day | on at least half of working days | on less than half of working days | ||
| 1: Without apprentices 2: During the four weeks ending with the reference week. / = No data because the numerical value is not sufficiently reliable. - = No figures or magnitude zero. Source: Results of microcensus 2019. | ||||
| Total | ||||
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A) | 265 | 15 | / | 6 |
| Mining and quarrying; manufacturing (B, C) | 7,477 | 81 | 67 | 475 |
| Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply; water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (D, E) | 550 | 5 | 6 | 44 |
| Construction (F) | 2,238 | 26 | 13 | 66 |
| Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G) | 5,010 | 53 | 41 | 196 |
| Transportation and storage (H) | 1,994 | 16 | 11 | 69 |
| Accommodation and food service activities (I) | 1,331 | 13 | / | 18 |
| Information and communication (J) | 1,158 | 42 | 55 | 264 |
| Financial and insurance activities (K) | 1,084 | 18 | 24 | 148 |
| Real estate activities (L) | 156 | / | / | 13 |
| Professional, scientific and technical activities (M) | 1,810 | 45 | 49 | 262 |
| Administrative and support service activities (N) | 1,857 | 31 | 17 | 78 |
| Public administration and defence; compulsory social security; extraterritorial organisations and bodies (O, U) | 2,855 | 18 | 37 | 157 |
| Education (P) | 2,612 | 233 | 183 | 386 |
| Human health and social work activities (Q) | 4,899 | 38 | 27 | 138 |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation (R) | 390 | 6 | 6 | 19 |
| Other service activities (S) | 891 | 22 | 18 | 63 |
| Households (T) | 199 | 8 | / | / |
| Total | 36,776 | 674 | 565 | 2,401 |
| Men | ||||
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A) | 171 | 8 | / | / |
| Mining and quarrying; manufacturing (B, C) | 5,420 | 53 | 48 | 347 |
| Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply; water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (D, E) | 416 | / | / | 32 |
| Construction (F) | 1,863 | 7 | 8 | 49 |
| Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G) | 2,404 | 29 | 27 | 128 |
| Transportation and storage (H) | 1,492 | 9 | 6 | 46 |
| Accommodation and food service activities (I) | 566 | 6 | / | 9 |
| Information and communication (J) | 767 | 24 | 41 | 192 |
| Financial and insurance activities (K) | 482 | 9 | 13 | 93 |
| Real estate activities (L) | 75 | / | / | 7 |
| Professional, scientific and technical activities (M) | 827 | 17 | 25 | 153 |
| Administrative and support service activities (N) | 891 | 13 | 9 | 43 |
| Public administration and defence; compulsory social security; extraterritorial organisations and bodies (O, U) | 1,401 | 9 | 13 | 77 |
| Education (P) | 706 | 76 | 59 | 141 |
| Human health and social work activities (Q) | 1,070 | 10 | 9 | 50 |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation (R) | 181 | / | / | 10 |
| Other service activities (S) | 297 | 12 | 11 | 31 |
| Households (T) | 13 | / | - | / |
| Total | 19,043 | 290 | 282 | 1,413 |
| Women | ||||
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A) | 94 | 8 | / | / |
| Mining and quarrying; manufacturing (B, C) | 2,058 | 28 | 18 | 128 |
| Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply; water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (D, E) | 134 | / | / | 12 |
| Construction (F) | 375 | 19 | 5 | 16 |
| Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G) | 2,606 | 25 | 14 | 68 |
| Transportation and storage (H) | 502 | 6 | / | 23 |
| Accommodation and food service activities (I) | 765 | 8 | / | 9 |
| Information and communication (J) | 391 | 18 | 14 | 73 |
| Financial and insurance activities (K) | 602 | 9 | 11 | 55 |
| Real estate activities (L) | 81 | / | / | 5 |
| Professional, scientific and technical activities (M) | 982 | 27 | 24 | 109 |
| Administrative and support service activities (N) | 966 | 19 | 9 | 35 |
| Public administration and defence; compulsory social security; extraterritorial organisations and bodies (O, U) | 1,454 | 9 | 24 | 80 |
| Education (P) | 1,906 | 157 | 124 | 245 |
| Human health and social work activities (Q) | 3,829 | 28 | 18 | 88 |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation (R) | 209 | / | / | 9 |
| Other service activities (S) | 594 | 9 | 8 | 32 |
| Households (T) | 186 | 6 | / | / |
| Total | 17,734 | 384 | 283 | 988 |
As at July 22, 2020