Press release No. 457 of 17 November 2020
Persons in employment with place of employment in Germany, 3rd quarter of 2020:
-0.1% on the previous quarter (seasonally adjusted)
+0.1% on the previous quarter (not seasonally adjusted)
-1.4% on the same quarter a year earlier
WIESBADEN – In the third quarter of 2020, roughly 44.7 million people were in employment whose place of employment was in Germany. According to provisional calculations of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the seasonally adjusted number of persons in employment declined by 48,000, or 0.1%, compared with the second quarter of 2020. This means that the decrease in employment has slowed down significantly, after the extraordinarily steep decline in the second quarter of 2020 (-627,000; -1.4%). Compared with the fourth quarter of 2019, the quarter before restrictions were imposed due to the corona pandemic in Germany, the number of persons in employment fell by a seasonally adjusted 1.5%, or 688,000, in the third quarter of 2020.
Without seasonal adjustment, the number of persons in employment increased by 66,000, or 0.1%, on the previous quarter. Employment usually increases in the third quarter of each year. However, the increase this year, during the corona pandemic, was much smaller than the third-quarter average of the last five years (+240,000; +0.5%).
Employment down 1.4% on the same quarter a year earlier
Compared with the third quarter of 2019, the number of persons in employment declined by 1.4% (654,000). The year-on-year change rate was -1.3% in the second quarter of 2020. In the preceding quarters, employment figures showed a slight increase.
It should be noted that the measures taken to contain the corona pandemic have also led to an increased uncertainty of the employment estimates. The significantly increasing short-time work, however, does not affect the number of persons in employment because, according to the employment accounts, short-time workers are counted as persons in employment rather than unemployed persons irrespective of the extent of short-time work.
Largest decrease again observed in the service sector
The service sector was the main contributor to the year-on-year decline in the total number of persons in employment in the third quarter of 2020 (-419,000; -1.2%). The largest decrease in the absolute number of persons in employment was recorded in trade, transport, accommodation and food services (-260,000; -2.5%) and in business services, which include employment activities (-190,000; -3.1%). Other service activities, too, recorded a strong decline in the number of persons in employment (-90,000; -3.0%), while the downward trend in financial and insurance activities, which has been observed for years, continued (-14,000; -1.3%). However, employment gains were recorded for public services, education, health (+129,000; +1.1%) and for information and communication (+10,000; +0.7%).
In industry (excluding construction), the year-on-year decline in the number of persons in employment continued and accelerated in the third quarter of 2020 (-236,000; -2.8%). In construction, however, the number of persons in employment continued to increase (+21,000; +0.8%). Employment was down in agriculture, forestry and fishing by 20,000 (-3.2%).
Fewer employees, fewer self-employed
Nearly three quarters of the decrease in employment was due to a fall in the number of employees; it declined by 486,000 (-1.2%) to 40.74 million in the third quarter of 2020 compared with the same quarter of 2019. This development was based on the declining number of both employees subject to social insurance contributions and persons only employed in marginal jobs (people employed on a low-pay basis or on a short-term basis, people in job opportunities). The decrease in self-employment continued and accelerated in the third quarter of 2020. The number of self-employed including family workers fell by 168,000 (-4.1%) to 3.98 million compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
Total hours worked down 4.0%
The average number of hours worked per person in employment decreased by 2.6% to 344.9 hours in the third quarter of 2020 compared with the same quarter a year earlier according to first provisional results of the Institute for Employment Research of the Federal Employment Agency. The total number of hours worked, that is, the number of persons in employment multiplied by the hours worked per person in employment, dropped by 4.0% to 15.4 billion hours in the same period. This shows in particular the impact of short-time work as of the second half of March, which is not reflected in the number of persons in employment, but in the number of hours worked.
Persons in employment in the EU
According to information released by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Union, on 13 November 2020, employment decreased more markedly in the 27 Member States of the European Union (EU) and the euro area than in Germany in the third quarter of 2020 compared with the same quarter a year earlier. The decline amounted to 1.8% in the EU and 2.0% in the euro area.
Note on the results published earlier
In addition to the first calculation of the number of persons in employment and the number of hours worked for the third quarter of 2020, the results published so far from the first quarter of 2020 were recalculated as part of the regular revision of national accounts. The recalculation did not lead to any change in the year-on-year change rates of the quarterly employment figures.
| Year, quarter 1 | Persons in employment 2 | Hours worked 3 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| total | employees | self- employed 5 | by persons in employment | per person in employment | |||
| seasonally adjusted value 4 | unadjusted value | ||||||
| persons in 1,000 | mn hours | hours | |||||
| 1 For persons in employment: annual and/or quarterly averages. 2 Results of employment accounts as part of national accounts; persons in employment whose place of employment is in Germany (domestic concept). 3 Source: Institute for Employment Research of the Federal Employment Agency, Nuremberg. 4 Seasonal adjustment by X13-ARIMA method using JDemetra+. 5 Including family workers. qtr = quarter | |||||||
| 2017 | - | 44,262 | 39,989 | 4,273 | 61,483 | 1,389.1 | |
| 2018 | - | 44,868 | 40,645 | 4,223 | 62,229 | 1,386.9 | |
| 2019 | - | 45,269 | 41,117 | 4,152 | 62,596 | 1,382.8 | |
| 2017 | 1st qtr | 44,023 | 43,732 | 39,438 | 4,294 | 15,675 | 358.4 |
| 2nd qtr | 44,185 | 44,166 | 39,892 | 4,274 | 14,496 | 328.2 | |
| 3rd qtr | 44,351 | 44,450 | 40,179 | 4,271 | 15,725 | 353.8 | |
| 4th qtr | 44,494 | 44,699 | 40,448 | 4,251 | 15,587 | 348.7 | |
| 2018 | 1st qtr | 44,675 | 44,398 | 40,156 | 4,242 | 15,687 | 353.3 |
| 2nd qtr | 44,814 | 44,790 | 40,563 | 4,227 | 14,814 | 330.7 | |
| 3rd qtr | 44,938 | 45,028 | 40,804 | 4,224 | 15,888 | 352.8 | |
| 4th qtr | 45,052 | 45,257 | 41,055 | 4,202 | 15,841 | 350.0 | |
| 2019 | 1st qtr | 45,183 | 44,920 | 40,733 | 4,187 | 15,978 | 355.7 |
| 2nd qtr | 45,271 | 45,240 | 41,077 | 4,163 | 14,750 | 326.0 | |
| 3rd qtr | 45,292 | 45,376 | 41,229 | 4,147 | 16,074 | 354.2 | |
| 4thqtr | 45,332 | 45,538 | 41,429 | 4,109 | 15,795 | 346.8 | |
| 2020 | 1st qtr | 45,319 | 45,066 | 40,991 | 4,075 | 15,717 | 348.8 |
| 2nd qtr | 44,692 | 44,656 | 40,633 | 4,023 | 13,437 | 300.9 | |
| 3rd qtr | 44,644 | 44,722 | 40,743 | 3,979 | 15,425 | 344.9 | |
| Percentage change on the previous quarter | Percentage change on the corresponding period of the previous year | ||||||
| 2017 | - | 1.4 | 1.7 | -1.6 | 0.9 | -0.5 | |
| 2018 | - | 1.4 | 1.6 | -1.2 | 1.2 | -0.2 | |
| 2019 | - | 0.9 | 1.2 | -1.7 | 0.6 | -0.3 | |
| 2017 | 1st qtr | 0.3 | 1.4 | 1.7 | -1.7 | 2.5 | 1.0 |
| 2nd qtr | 0.4 | 1.4 | 1.7 | -1.7 | -0.5 | -1.8 | |
| 3rd qtr | 0.4 | 1.4 | 1.7 | -1.6 | 0.8 | -0.5 | |
| 4th qtr | 0.3 | 1.4 | 1.7 | -1.4 | 0.7 | -0.7 | |
| 2018 | 1st qtr | 0.4 | 1.5 | 1.8 | -1.2 | 0.1 | -1.4 |
| 2nd qtr | 0.3 | 1.4 | 1.7 | -1.1 | 2.2 | 0.8 | |
| 3rd qtr | 0.3 | 1.3 | 1.6 | -1.1 | 1.0 | -0.3 | |
| 4th qtr | 0.3 | 1.2 | 1.5 | -1.2 | 1.6 | 0.4 | |
| 2019 | 1st qtr | 0.3 | 1.2 | 1.4 | -1.3 | 1.9 | 0.7 |
| 2nd qtr | 0.2 | 1.0 | 1.3 | -1.5 | -0.4 | -1.4 | |
| 3rd qtr | 0.0 | 0.8 | 1.0 | -1.8 | 1.2 | 0.4 | |
| 4th qtr | 0.1 | 0.6 | 0.9 | -2.2 | -0.3 | -0.9 | |
| 2020 | 1st qtr | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.6 | -2.7 | -1.6 | -1.9 |
| 2nd qtr | -1.4 | -1.3 | -1.1 | -3.4 | -8.9 | -7.7 | |
| 3rd qtr | -0.1 | -1.4 | -1.2 | -4.1 | -4.0 | -2.6 | |
| Sector of economic activity 2 | 2019 | 2019 | 2020 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st qtr | 2nd qtr | 3rd qtr | 4th qtr | 1st qtr | 2nd qtr | 3rd qtr | ||
| 1 Results of employment accounts as part of national accounts (domestic concept); annual and quarterly averages. 2 Classification of Economic Activities, 2008 edition (WZ 2008). qtr = quarter | ||||||||
| Persons in 1,000 | ||||||||
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 599 | 566 | 638 | 619 | 573 | 555 | 619 | 599 |
| Industry, excluding construction | 8,360 | 8,350 | 8,356 | 8,382 | 8,361 | 8,254 | 8,176 | 8,146 |
| including: | ||||||||
| Manufacturing | 7,758 | 7,754 | 7,754 | 7,776 | 7,749 | 7,622 | 7,546 | 7,513 |
| Construction | 2,552 | 2,504 | 2,544 | 2,569 | 2,583 | 2,540 | 2,561 | 2,590 |
| Trade, transport, accommodation and food services | 10,257 | 10,160 | 10,247 | 10,284 | 10,317 | 10,169 | 9,967 | 10,024 |
| Information and communication | 1,375 | 1,360 | 1,370 | 1,380 | 1,393 | 1,394 | 1,388 | 1,390 |
| Financial and insurance activities | 1,096 | 1,098 | 1,093 | 1,097 | 1,101 | 1,091 | 1,084 | 1,083 |
| Real estate activities | 481 | 478 | 481 | 482 | 482 | 480 | 479 | 478 |
| Business services | 6,201 | 6,167 | 6,193 | 6,227 | 6,227 | 6,136 | 6,023 | 6,037 |
| Public services, education, health | 11,313 | 11,224 | 11,269 | 11,290 | 11,462 | 11,451 | 11,410 | 11,419 |
| Other services | 3,035 | 3,013 | 3,049 | 3,046 | 3,039 | 2,996 | 2,949 | 2,956 |
| Percentage change on the corresponding period of the previous year | ||||||||
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | -1.5 | -0.7 | -2.3 | -1.4 | -1.5 | -1.9 | -3.0 | -3.2 |
| Industry, excluding construction | 0.6 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 0.4 | -0.4 | -1.1 | -2.2 | -2.8 |
| including: | ||||||||
| Manufacturing | 0.5 | 1.4 | 1.0 | 0.3 | -0.6 | -1.7 | -2.7 | -3.4 |
| Construction | 1.5 | 1.7 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 0.8 |
| Trade, transport, accommodation and food services | 0.8 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.1 | -2.7 | -2.5 |
| Information and communication | 3.7 | 4.2 | 3.9 | 3.8 | 3.0 | 2.5 | 1.3 | 0.7 |
| Financial and insurance activities | -1.2 | -1.3 | -1.2 | -0.8 | -0.7 | -0.6 | -0.8 | -1.3 |
| Real estate activities | 0.8 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.4 | -0.4 | -0.8 |
| Business services | -0.4 | 0.1 | -0.4 | -0.7 | -0.5 | -0.5 | -2.7 | -3.1 |
| Public services, education, health | 1.9 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 1.9 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 1.3 | 1.1 |
| Other services | 0.8 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.5 | -0.6 | -3.3 | -3.0 |
Detailed data and long time series on persons in employment and the number of hours worked are available in the GENESIS-Online database in the tables on national accounts of the Federation (81000-0012 and 81000-0016) and on the labour market (13321).
Methodological notes
The differing comparative periods must be taken into account in all press releases on short-term indicators. Short-term economic monitoring focuses on comparisons with the previous month or previous quarter. These reflect short-term economic trends. A comparison with the previous year is intended to offer a long-term comparison of levels and is not subject to seasonal fluctuations. During the current coronavirus crisis, the strong decreases especially in March/April 2020 and the slowly emerging recovery may produce highly different results for the comparison with the previous month/previous quarter and the comparison with the previous year. Both of the two perspectives are important: what is the short-term economic trend compared with the previous month/previous quarter, and how far has the catching-up process gone compared with the previous year’s level? In order to provide also a direct comparison with the pre-crisis level, all press releases on short-term indicators available in seasonally adjusted form will from now on include a comparison with February 2020 or the 4th quarter of 2019.
German EU Council Presidency
As of 1 July, the Federal Statistical Office has been responsible for organisingwill organise the meetings of the Council Working Party on Statistics to be held during Germany’s EU Council Presidency under the chairmanship of its President Dr. Georg Thiel. Information on our activities during the Presidency of the Council of the Germany’s EU is provided at destatis.de/eu2020.
European statistics are available under „Europe in figures“ on our website at www.destatis.de/europa
Crisis Monitor allows comparison between corona crisis and and financial and economic crisis
Persons in employment are also part of the "Crises monitor", which is used by the Federal Statistical Office to compare the development of major short-term indicators between the corona crisis and the financial and economic crisis of 2008/2009. The "Crisis Monitor" complements the "Corona statistics" webpage, which has provided statistical information on the economic and social consequences of the corona pandemic since early April.
