Press release No. 041 of 29 January 2021
Persons in employment resident in Germany, December 2020
0.0% on the previous month (seasonally adjusted)
-0.3% on the previous month (not seasonally adjusted)
-1.6% on the same month a year earlier
WIESBADEN – Roughly 44.6 million people resident in Germany (national concept) were in employment in December 2020 according to provisional calculations of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). Compared with the previous month, the number of persons in employment was nearly unchanged in December 2020 upon seasonal adjustment (+3,000 persons, 0.0%), remaining well below pre-crisis level. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the number of persons in employment in December 2020 decreased by 1.6%, or 743,000, on February 2020, the month before restrictions were imposed in Germany on account of the corona pandemic.
Without seasonal adjustment, the number of persons in employment was down on the previous month in December 2020 (by 148,000, or -0.3%), which is normal for that time of the year. This month-on-month decline is larger the relevant average for December over the past five years (-127,000 people).
Year-on-year decrease in employment continues
Compared with December 2019, the number of persons in employment decreased markedly by 1.6% (-731,000). The year-on-year decrease in the number of persons in employment thus continued at roughly the same pace. The year-on-year change rate had been -1.4% or -1.5% from May to October 2020, and -1.6% in November as in December. In the pre-crisis month of February 2020, employment had increased by 0.4% (+199,000 people) on a year earlier.
Please note that short-time workers are not counted as unemployed but as persons in employment here in accordance with the employment accounts and labour force survey concepts.
Employment slightly up in the 4th quarter of 2020
In the 4th quarter of 2020, the average number of persons in employment whose place of employment was in Germany (domestic concept) was roughly 44.8 million according to provisional calculations. Upon seasonal adjustment, the number of persons in employment was up by 21,000, or 0.0%, from the previous quarter. Detailed results for the 4th quarter of 2020 will be released on 18 February 2021.
Unemployment rate at 4.4% in December 2020
According to estimates based on the labour force survey, 1.95 million people were unemployed in December 2020. That was an increase of 0.5% on November 2020. Compared with December 2019, the number of unemployed people increased by 562,000 (+40.3%). The unemployment rate stood at 4.4% in December 2020 and was unchanged on the previous month.
| 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 (national 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 X13-ARIMA method using JDemetra+. | ||||||
| 2018 | January | 44.266 | -0.6 | 1.5 | 44.511 | 0.2 |
| February | 44.317 | 0.1 | 1.5 | 44.533 | 0.0 | |
| March | 44.411 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 44.581 | 0.1 | |
| April | 44.554 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 44.625 | 0.1 | |
| May | 44.673 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 44.681 | 0.1 | |
| June | 44.690 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 44.710 | 0.1 | |
| July | 44.709 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 44.753 | 0.1 | |
| August | 44.754 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 44.809 | 0.1 | |
| September | 44.981 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 44.809 | 0.0 | |
| October | 45.094 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 44.856 | 0.1 | |
| November | 45.195 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 44.914 | 0.1 | |
| December | 45.072 | -0.3 | 1.2 | 44.951 | 0.1 | |
| 2019 | January | 44.773 | -0.7 | 1.1 | 44.999 | 0.1 |
| February | 44.836 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 45.032 | 0.1 | |
| March | 44.912 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 45.085 | 0.1 | |
| April | 45.046 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 45.119 | 0.1 | |
| May | 45.110 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 45.121 | 0.0 | |
| June | 45.092 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 45.123 | 0.0 | |
| July | 45.093 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 45.145 | 0.0 | |
| August | 45.077 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 45.137 | 0.0 | |
| September | 45.321 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 45.152 | 0.0 | |
| October | 45.411 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 45.171 | 0.0 | |
| November | 45.473 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 45.193 | 0.0 | |
| December | 45.327 | -0.3 | 0.6 | 45.205 | 0.0 | |
| 2020 | January | 45.004 | -0.7 | 0.5 | 45.216 | 0.0 |
| February | 45.035 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 45.217 | 0.0 | |
| March | 44.923 | -0.2 | 0.0 | 45.097 | -0.3 | |
| April | 44.636 | -0.6 | -0.9 | 44.708 | -0.9 | |
| May | 44.469 | -0.4 | -1.4 | 44.483 | -0.5 | |
| June | 44.452 | 0.0 | -1.4 | 44.491 | 0.0 | |
| July | 44.432 | 0.0 | -1.5 | 44.489 | 0.0 | |
| August | 44.431 | 0.0 | -1.4 | 44.497 | 0.0 | |
| September | 44.655 | 0.5 | -1.5 | 44.492 | 0.0 | |
| October | 44.741 | 0.2 | -1.5 | 44.503 | 0.0 | |
| November | 44.744 | 0.0 | -1.6 | 44.471 | -0.1 | |
| December | 44.596 | -0.3 | -1.6 | 44.474 | 0.0 | |
| December 2020 2 | Previous month | Same month of the previous year | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 2020 2 | Change | December 2019 | Change | ||
| 1 Persons in households aged 15 to 74 years. 2 Estimation based on the previous periods due to limited data collection. 3 Share of unemployed in the labour force (persons in employment and unemployed) aged 15 to 74 years. 4 Share of persons in employment in all persons aged 15 to 74 years. 5 Trend cycle component (X-13-ARIMA method using JDemetra+; calculation by Eurostat). | |||||
| Original values | |||||
| in million | in % | in million | in % | ||
| Unemployed persons | 1.95 | 1.94 | 0.5 | 1.39 | 40.3 |
| Persons in employment | 42.29 | 42.34 | -0.1 | 42.95 | -1.5 |
| shares in % | in % | shares in % | in % | ||
| Unemployment rate 3 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 0.0 | 3.1 | 41.9 |
| Employment rate 4 | 68.0 | 68.1 | -0.1 | 69.0 | -1.4 |
| Adjusted results 5 | |||||
| in million | in % | in million | in % | ||
| Unemployed persons | 2.01 | 2.01 | 0.0 | 1.45 | 38.6 |
| Persons in employment | 42.17 | 42.15 | 0.0 | 42.69 | -1.2 |
| shares in % | in percentage points | shares in % | in percentage points | ||
| Unemployment rate 3 | 4.6 | 4.5 | 0.1 | 3.3 | 1.3 |
| Men | 4.5 | 4.5 | 0.0 | 3.7 | 0.8 |
| Women | 4.6 | 4.6 | 0.0 | 2.8 | 1.8 |
| Persons aged under 25 years | 6.1 | 6.3 | -0.2 | 5.6 | 0.5 |
| Persons aged 25 to 74 years | 4.4 | 4.4 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 1.4 |
| Employment rate 4 | 67.8 | 67.8 | 0.0 | 68.5 | -0.7 |
Methodological note:
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 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 what is the economic situation 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, for the time being, include a comparison with February 2020 or the 4th quarter of 2019.
Due to the corona pandemic, estimating the numbers of persons in employment and of unemployed at present involves higher uncertainty than usual. In addition, data collection problems have affected the estimation of unemployment figures.
When the number of persons in employment was first calculated for the reference month of December 2020, the provisional monthly and quarterly employment results for 2020 were recalculated as part of the regular revision of national accounting results. This involved taking account of all sources of employment statistics that had additionally become available until the time of calculation. For the monthly employment figures, the recalculation resulted in year-on-year change rates which are 0.1 percentage points lower than the results published earlier for July, September and November. These were the only changes that resulted from the recalculation. The annual result of 44.8 million persons in employment whose place of employment was in Germany (domestic concept) and the year-on-year change rate of 1.1%, which were communicated in the press release of 4 January 2021 (No. 001/21), remained unchanged, too.
The number of persons in employment from the employment accounts differs from that of the labour force survey. The differences are due to the different conceptual approaches (national or domestic concept) applied in the two statistical systems. For more information on the reasons why the results of 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.
The microcensus and the integrated labour force survey were redesigned both in technical and in methodological terms; the new approach was introduced at the beginning of 2020. For technical reasons, data collection has been limited since the beginning of this year. Therefore, the results as from January 2020 have been determined by means of an estimate based on the results for the previous periods, considering current developments.
Crisis Monitor enables comparison between corona crisis and financial and economic crisis
The employment figures also form part of the “Crisis Monitor” (www.destatis.de/krisenmonitor) by means of which the Federal Statistical Office compares the development of major short-term indicators in the corona crisis and in the financial and economic crisis of 2008/2009. The Crisis monitor complements the “Corona statistics” webpage (www.destatis.de/corona), which provides statistical information on the economic and social consequences of the corona pandemic.
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).
