Press release No. 165 of 30 April 2019
WIESBADEN – In March 2019, roughly 44.9 million persons resident in Germany were in employment according to provisional calculations of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). Compared with March 2018, the number of persons in employment increased by 1.1% (+495,000). This year-on-year change rate is the same as in the previous two months (January and February 2019). Employment growth thus continued in the 1st quarter of 2019 despite a general recent slowdown of economic activity. Unemployment continued to decrease slightly on the same month of a year earlier. In March 2019, 1.50 million people were unemployed, 13,000 fewer than a year earlier.
According to provisional results of the employment accounts, the number of persons in employment rose by 127,000, or 0.3%, in March 2019 on the previous month as a result of the beginning spring upturn. However, the month-on-month increase was smaller than the relevant average of the past five years (+143,000 people). After seasonal adjustment, that is, after the elimination of the usual seasonal fluctuations, the number of persons in employment increased by 33,000, or 0.1%, in March 2019 on February 2019.
Number of persons in employment in the 1st quarter of 2019 up 1.1% on the 1st quarter of 2018
On an average of the 1st quarter of 2019, there were roughly 44.9 million persons in employment whose place of employment was in Germany, according to provisional calculations. Compared with a year earlier, the number of persons in employment was up by 481,000 or 1.1%. Detailed results on the first quarter of 2019 will be released on 17 May 2019.
Adjusted unemployment rate at 3.2% in March 2019
Results of the labour force survey show that 1.50 million people were unemployed in March 2019. This was a rise of 138,000 people month on month. Adjusted for seasonal and irregular effects, the number of unemployed stood at 1.38 million in March 2019, which was a decline of 13,300 on a month earlier. The adjusted unemployment rate was 3.2% in March 2019.
| 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. | ||||||
| 2016 | January | 42.964 | -0.9 | 1.3 | 43.264 | 0.0 |
| February | 43.038 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 43.325 | 0.1 | |
| March | 43.207 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 43.394 | 0.2 | |
| April | 43.347 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 43.425 | 0.1 | |
| May | 43.479 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 43.473 | 0.1 | |
| June | 43.568 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 43.530 | 0.1 | |
| July | 43.535 | -0.1 | 1.2 | 43.534 | 0.0 | |
| August | 43.631 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 43.612 | 0.2 | |
| September | 43.870 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 43.684 | 0.2 | |
| October | 43.972 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 43.726 | 0.1 | |
| November | 44.057 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 43.789 | 0.1 | |
| December | 43.929 | -0.3 | 1.4 | 43.856 | 0.2 | |
| 2017 | January | 43.596 | -0.8 | 1.5 | 43.889 | 0.1 |
| February | 43.667 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 43.948 | 0.1 | |
| March | 43.821 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 44.000 | 0.1 | |
| April | 43.962 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 44.038 | 0.1 | |
| May | 44.083 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 44.076 | 0.1 | |
| June | 44.177 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 44.138 | 0.1 | |
| July | 44.183 | 0.0 | 1.5 | 44.187 | 0.1 | |
| August | 44.245 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 44.228 | 0.1 | |
| September | 44.455 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 44.274 | 0.1 | |
| October | 44.543 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 44.306 | 0.1 | |
| November | 44.631 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 44.364 | 0.1 | |
| December | 44.502 | -0.3 | 1.3 | 44.426 | 0.1 | |
| 2018 | January | 44.244 | -0.6 | 1.5 | 44.531 | 0.2 |
| February | 44.290 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 44.566 | 0.1 | |
| March | 44.402 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 44.579 | 0.0 | |
| April | 44.547 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 44.625 | 0.1 | |
| May | 44.676 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 44.668 | 0.1 | |
| June | 44.719 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 44.680 | 0.0 | |
| July | 44.721 | 0.0 | 1.2 | 44.728 | 0.1 | |
| August | 44.784 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 44.768 | 0.1 | |
| September | 44.965 | 0.4 | 1.1 | 44.787 | 0.0 | |
| October | 45.072 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 44.840 | 0.1 | |
| November | 45.160 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 44.894 | 0.1 | |
| December | 45.019 | -0.3 | 1.2 | 44.943 | 0.1 | |
| 2019 | January | 44.724 | -0.7 | 1.1 | 45.004 | 0.1 |
| February | 44.770 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 45.041 | 0.1 | |
| March | 44.897 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 45.074 | 0.1 | |
| March 2019 | Previous month | Same month of the previous year | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 2019 | Change | March 2018 | Change | ||
| 1 Persons in households aged 15 to 74 years. 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-13-ARIMA method using JDemetra+; calculation by Eurostat). | |||||
| Original values | |||||
| in million | in % | in million | in % | ||
| Unemployed persons | 1.50 | 1.36 | 10.3 | 1.51 | -0.7 |
| Persons in employment | 41.86 | 41.83 | 0.1 | 41.42 | 1.1 |
| shares in % | in % | shares in % | in % | ||
| Unemployment rate 2 | 3.5 | 3.1 | 12.9 | 3.5 | 0.0 |
| Employment rate 3 | 67.7 | 67.8 | -0.1 | 66.6 | 1.7 |
| Adjusted results 4 | |||||
| in million | in % | in million | in % | ||
| Unemployed persons | 1.38 | 1.39 | -0.7 | 1.49 | -7.4 |
| Persons in employment | 42.07 | 41.99 | 0.2 | 41.63 | 1.1 |
| shares in % | in percentage points | shares in % | in percentage points | ||
| Unemployment rate 2 | 3.2 | 3.2 | 0.0 | 3.5 | -0.3 |
| Men | 3.4 | 3.5 | -0.1 | 3.9 | -0.5 |
| Women | 2.9 | 2.9 | 0.0 | 3.0 | -0.1 |
| Persons aged under 25 years | 5.6 | 5.7 | -0.1 | 6.4 | -0.8 |
| Persons aged 25 to 74 years | 2.9 | 2.9 | 0.0 | 3.1 | -0.2 |
| Employment rate 3 | 68.0 | 68.0 | 0.0 | 66.9 | 1.1 |
Methodological notes:
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) and 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).
In addition to the first calculation of the number of persons in employment for the reference month of March 2019, the monthly employment results published so far were recalculated for the year 2018 and the months of January and February 2019. At the level of the overall economy, the recalculation of the monthly results led to year-on-year change rates which for September 2018 is by 0.1 percentage points lower and for November and December 2018 by 0.1 percentage points higher each than the results published earlier.
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 conceptual approaches applied in the two statistical systems.
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 accordance with the Social Code. In the European Statistical System, the results of the labour force survey are used as a standard basis for calculating unemployment rates.
