Press release No. 068 of 1 March 2016
WIESBADEN – In January 2016, roughly 42.9 million persons resident in Germany were in employment according to provisional calculations of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). Compared with the same month a year earlier, the number of persons in employment increased by 522,000 or 1.2%. This development was mainly due to a positive short-term economic trend and mild weather conditions. In January 2016, slightly more than 1.8 million people were unemployed, nearly 250,000 fewer than a year earlier.
According to provisional results of the employment accounts, the number of persons in employment fell by 321,000, or 0.7%, in January 2016 on December 2015 for seasonal reasons. A month-on-month decline in employment is typical in January of a year. In January 2016, however, the decrease was smaller than the relevant average of the past five years (–363,000 people). After seasonal adjustment, that is, after the elimination of the usual seasonal fluctuations, the number of persons in employment increased by 74,000, or 0.2%, in January 2016 compared with the previous month.
Results of the labour force survey show that 1.82 million people were unemployed in January 2016. Compared with the same month a year earlier, the number declined by 250,000 or 12.1%. Adjusted for seasonal and irregular effects, the number of unemployed stood at 1.83 million, which was a decline of roughly 20,000 on a month earlier. The adjusted unemployment rate decreased by 0.1 percentage points to 4.3%.
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). The respective time series for persons in employment whose place of work is in Germany (domestic concept) are presented here. 2 Seasonal adjustment by Census X-12-Arima. | ||||||
| 2013 | January | 41.857 | –0.9 | 0.7 | 42.165 | 0.0 |
| February | 41.869 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 42.185 | 0.0 | |
| March | 41.944 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 42.169 | –0.0 | |
| April | 42.073 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 42.176 | 0.0 | |
| May | 42.219 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 42.229 | 0.1 | |
| June | 42.255 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 42.242 | 0.0 | |
| July | 42.283 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 42.285 | 0.1 | |
| August | 42.342 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 42.303 | 0.0 | |
| September | 42.537 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 42.320 | 0.0 | |
| October | 42.663 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 42.357 | 0.1 | |
| November | 42.686 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 42.385 | 0.1 | |
| December | 42.496 | –0.4 | 0.6 | 42.415 | 0.1 | |
| 2014 | January | 42.163 | –0.8 | 0.7 | 42.475 | 0.1 |
| February | 42.212 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 42.527 | 0.1 | |
| March | 42.328 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 42.552 | 0.1 | |
| April | 42.507 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 42.608 | 0.1 | |
| May | 42.608 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 42.615 | 0.0 | |
| June | 42.665 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 42.651 | 0.1 | |
| July | 42.693 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 42.684 | 0.1 | |
| August | 42.710 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 42.672 | –0.0 | |
| September | 42.912 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 42.695 | 0.1 | |
| October | 43.031 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 42.724 | 0.1 | |
| November | 43.018 | –0.0 | 0.8 | 42.722 | –0.0 | |
| December | 42.828 | –0.4 | 0.8 | 42.753 | 0.1 | |
| 2015 | January | 42.426 | –0.9 | 0.6 | 42.742 | –0.0 |
| February | 42.462 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 42.777 | 0.1 | |
| March | 42.623 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 42.845 | 0.2 | |
| April | 42.773 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 42.872 | 0.1 | |
| May | 42.894 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 42.900 | 0.1 | |
| June | 42.948 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 42.933 | 0.1 | |
| July | 42.989 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 42.974 | 0.1 | |
| August | 43.046 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 43.009 | 0.1 | |
| September | 43.280 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 43.062 | 0.1 | |
| October | 43.409 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 43.099 | 0.1 | |
| November | 43.442 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 43.147 | 0.1 | |
| December | 43.269 | –0.4 | 1.0 | 43.197 | 0.1 | |
| 2016 | January | 42.948 | –0.7 | 1.2 | 43.271 | 0.2 |
| January 2016 | Previous month | Same month of the previous year | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2015 | Change | January 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 | 1.82 | 1.91 | –4.7 | 2.07 | –12.1 |
| Persons in employment | 40.49 | 40.41 | 0.2 | 39.92 | 1.4 |
| shares in % | in % | shares in % | in % | ||
| Unemployment rate 2 | 4.3 | 4.5 | –4.4 | 4.9 | –12.2 |
| Employment rate 3 | 65.9 | 65.6 | 0.5 | 64.8 | 1.7 |
| Adjusted results 4 | |||||
| in million | in % | in million | in % | ||
| Unemployed persons | 1.83 | 1.85 | –1.1 | 2.02 | –9.4 |
| Persons in employment | 40.39 | 40.31 | 0.2 | 39.94 | 1.1 |
| shares in % | in % | shares in % | in % | ||
| Unemployment rate 2 | 4.3 | 4.4 | –2.3 | 4.8 | –10.4 |
| including: | |||||
| Men | 4.6 | 4.7 | –2.1 | 5.1 | –9.8 |
| Women | 4.0 | 4.1 | –2.4 | 4.4 | –9.1 |
| Persons aged under 25 years | 7.1 | 7.1 | 0.0 | 7.2 | –1.4 |
| Persons aged 25 to 74 years | 4.0 | 4.1 | –2.4 | 4.6 | –13.0 |
| Employment rate 3 | 65.7 | 65.4 | 0.5 | 64.9 | 1.2 |
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.
The number of persons in employment as obtained in the employment accounts and that from the labour force survey differ. The differences are due to the different concepts applied in the two statistical systems. For more information on the background of the differences in results between the labour force survey and the employment accounts.
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).