Press release No. 455 of 29 November 2019
WIESBADEN – Roughly 45.4 million persons resident in Germany (national concept) were in employment in October 2019 according to provisional calculations of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). Compared with October 2018, the number of persons in employment increased by 0.7% (+306,000). The year-on-year change rate had been 1.2% in December 2018, 1.1% in January 2019 and 0.7% in September 2019. This means that employment growth continued but slowed further in the course of 2019.
Slight increase in the number of persons in employment on September 2019
According to provisional results of the employment accounts, the number of persons in employment increased by 90,000 (+0.2%) in October 2019 on the previous month, which was less than the relevant average for October in the past five years (+103,000 people). After seasonal adjustment, that is, after the elimination of the usual seasonal fluctuations, the number of persons in employment increased by 27,000 (+0.1%) in October 2019 compared with September 2019.
Adjusted unemployment rate unchanged at 3.1% since May 2019
According to results of the labour force survey, 1.31 million people were unemployed in October. This was a decrease of 86,000 people compared with the same month a year earlier (-6.4%). The unemployment rate was 3.0%. Adjusted for seasonal and irregular effects, the number of unemployed increased slightly by 0.8% to 1.34 million month on month. The adjusted unemployment rate in October was unchanged at 3.1% since May 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 method JDemetra+. | ||||||
| 2017 | January | 43.584 | -0.8 | 1.4 | 43.860 | 0.1 |
| February | 43.657 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 43.906 | 0.1 | |
| March | 43.792 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 43.964 | 0.1 | |
| April | 43.929 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 43.995 | 0.1 | |
| May | 44.038 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 44.035 | 0.1 | |
| June | 44.104 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 44.105 | 0.2 | |
| July | 44.132 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 44.159 | 0.1 | |
| August | 44.164 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 44.200 | 0.1 | |
| September | 44.436 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 44.256 | 0.1 | |
| October | 44.529 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 44.290 | 0.1 | |
| November | 44.634 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 44.353 | 0.1 | |
| December | 44.528 | -0.2 | 1.3 | 44.418 | 0.1 | |
| 2018 | January | 44.244 | -0.6 | 1.5 | 44.511 | 0.2 |
| February | 44.296 | 0.1 | 1.5 | 44.538 | 0.1 | |
| March | 44.393 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 44.561 | 0.1 | |
| April | 44.538 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 44.602 | 0.1 | |
| May | 44.657 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 44.652 | 0.1 | |
| June | 44.675 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 44.679 | 0.1 | |
| July | 44.695 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 44.726 | 0.1 | |
| August | 44.737 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 44.775 | 0.1 | |
| September | 44.967 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 44.794 | 0.0 | |
| October | 45.078 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 44.846 | 0.1 | |
| November | 45.179 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 44.898 | 0.1 | |
| December | 45.056 | -0.3 | 1.2 | 44.944 | 0.1 | |
| 2019 | January | 44.742 | -0.7 | 1.1 | 45.000 | 0.1 |
| February | 44.802 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 45.037 | 0.1 | |
| March | 44.879 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 45.047 | 0.0 | |
| April | 45.010 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 45.073 | 0.1 | |
| May | 45.089 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 45.082 | 0.0 | |
| June | 45.066 | -0.1 | 0.9 | 45.074 | 0.0 | |
| July | 45.064 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 45.097 | 0.1 | |
| August | 45.073 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 45.113 | 0.0 | |
| September | 45.294 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 45.126 | 0.0 | |
| October | 45.384 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 45.153 | 0.1 | |
| October 2019 | Previous month | Same month of the previous year | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2019 | Change | October 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 | 1.31 | 1.32 | -0.8 | 1.40 | -6.4 |
| Persons in employment | 42.17 | 42.26 | -0.2 | 42.14 | 0.1 |
| shares in % | in % | shares in % | in % | ||
| Unemployment rate 2 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 0.0 | 3.2 | -6.3 |
| Employment rate 3 | 68.3 | 68.6 | -0.4 | 68.2 | 0.1 |
| Adjusted results 4 | |||||
| in million | in % | in million | in % | ||
| Unemployed persons | 1.34 | 1.33 | 0.8 | 1.43 | -6.3 |
| Persons in employment | 41.99 | 41.97 | 0.0 | 41.84 | 0.4 |
| shares in % | in percentage points | shares in % | in percentage points | ||
| Unemployment rate 2 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 0.0 | 3.3 | -0.2 |
| Men | 3.5 | 3.5 | 0.0 | 3.7 | -0.2 |
| Women | 2.6 | 2.6 | 0.0 | 2.9 | -0.3 |
| Persons aged under 25 years | 5.8 | 5.8 | 0.0 | 5.9 | -0.1 |
| Persons aged 25 to 74 years | 2.8 | 2.8 | 0.0 | 3.0 | -0.2 |
| Employment rate 3 | 68.0 | 68.2 | -0.2 | 67.7 | 0.3 |
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) 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 to 13231-0003 (months)
Methodological notes:
The results provided by the employment accounts and the labour force survey for the number of persons in employment are not the same. The differences are due to the different conceptual approaches applied in the two statistical systems. For more information on the reasons why the results from the labour force survey differ from those of the employment accounts please refer to the explanatory notes on the statistics.
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.
