Destatis Federal Statistical Office of Germany : Number of persons in employment increased by one percent in 2016

WIESBADEN- On an annual average in 2016, roughly 43.4 million persons resident in Germany were in employment. The number of persons in employment in 2016 was higher by 425,000, or 1.0%, than in the previous year, according to first provisional calculations of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). Hence, the employment increase observed for over ten years continued. The increase in 2016 was even larger than in 2015 (+377,000 people, or +0.9%). The total number of persons in employment in 2016 reached the highest level since German reunification. Higher labour force participation of the domestic population and the immigration of foreign workers offset negative demographic effects.

As provisional estimates based on the labour force survey show, the number of unemployed people (according to the internationally comparable definition) in Germany declined by 160,000 (-8.2%) to just under 1.8 million on an annual average in 2016, year on year. The active labour force available in the labour market, defined as the total of persons in employment and unemployed persons, increased by 265,000 (+0.6%) to 45.2 million in the same period. The unemployment rate, which represents unemployed persons as a percentage of the labour force, was down from 4.3% to 4.0%, as calculated on this basis. This means that Germany has the second lowest unemployment rate of all Member States, behind the Czech Republic.

The main reason for the positive development of the German labour market was the increase in the number of employees resident in Germany, which was up by 453,000 (+1.2%) to 39.1 million on an annual average in 2016. The number of self-employed including family workers, however, decreased by 28,000 (-0.6%) to 4.3 million in the same period. Among employees, the number of persons subject to social insurance contributions increased again, whereas the total of marginally employed people and those in job opportunities (so-called one-euro jobs) continued to decrease. The trend of the previous years thus continued.

According to the first provisional calculations, the number of persons in employment whose place of employment was in Germany amounted to 43.5 million on an annual average in 2016. This was an increase of 429,000 (+1.0%) compared with a year earlier. The difference between the number of persons in employment who are resident in Germany and the number of those whose place of employment is in Germany can be explained by the balance of non-residents working in Germany and residents working abroad. On an annual average in 2016, the number of non-residents working in Germany was by 82,000 (2015: 78,000) higher than the number of residents working abroad, according to first provisional calculations.

When examined by economic sectors, the increase in the number of persons in employment whose place of employment is in Germany in 2016 was largest in the service branches (+426,000 people, or +1.3%). The largest absolute shares in this increase were recorded for public services, education, health (+200,000 persons in employment, or +1.9%), followed by business services (+126,000, or +2.2%) and trade, transport, accommodation and food services (+105,000, or +1.1%). In industry (excluding construction), the number of persons in employment in 2016 stagnated at the level of 2015. In construction, the number of persons in employment was up by an average 20,000 (+0.8%) and in agriculture, forestry and fishing it decreased by 17,000 (-2.7%) on an annual average in 2016.

Year	Labour force	Unemployed persons	Residents in employment
			total	employees	self-employed
Annual averages. Results of the labour force survey (microcensus) according to the labour force concept of the International Labour Organization (); persons in households aged 15 to 74 years. Including unpaid family workers.
Persons in 1,000
1991	41,023	2,172	38,851	35,288	3,563
2004	43,345	4,127	39,218	34,960	4,258
2005	43,726	4,506	39,220	34,810	4,410
2006	43,663	4,104	39,559	35,076	4,483
2007	43,732	3,473	40,259	35,732	4,527
2008	43,823	3,018	40,805	36,302	4,503
2009	43,943	3,098	40,845	36,360	4,485
2010	43,804	2,821	40,983	36,496	4,487
2011	43,933	2,399	41,534	36,971	4,563
2012	44,230	2,224	42,006	37,446	4,560
2013	44,453	2,182	42,271	37,813	4,458
2014	44,692	2,090	42,602	38,200	4,402
2015	44,929	1,950	42,979	38,643	4,336
2016	45,194	1,790	43,404	39,096	4,308
Change in % on the corresponding period of the previous year
2004	1.1	8.3	0.4	0.0	3.3
2005	0.9	9.2	0.0	-0.4	3.6
2006	-0.1	-8.9	0.9	0.8	1.7
2007	0.2	-15.4	1.8	1.9	1.0
2008	0.2	-13.1	1.4	1.6	-0.5
2009	0.3	2.7	0.1	0.2	-0.4
2010	-0.3	-8.9	0.3	0.4	0.0
2011	0.3	-15.0	1.3	1.3	1.7
2012	0.7	-7.3	1.1	1.3	-0.1
2013	0.5	-1.9	0.6	1.0	-2.2
2014	0.5	-4.2	0.8	1.0	-1.3
2015	0.5	-6.7	0.9	1.2	-1.5
2016	0.6	-8.2	1.0	1.2	-0.6

Year	Persons in employment, total	Agriculture, forestry and fishing	Industry, including energy	Construction	Service activities
Annual averages. Trade, hotel and restaurant services, transport, financial, renting and business activities, other service activities.
Persons in 1,000
2005	39,326	668	7,818	2,277	28,563
2006	39,635	653	7,734	2,273	28,975
2007	40,325	667	7,839	2,312	29,507
2008	40,856	670	8,022	2,300	29,864
2009	40,892	667	7,844	2,312	30,069
2010	41,020	661	7,705	2,331	30,323
2011	41,577	670	7,854	2,376	30,677
2012	42,061	667	7,994	2,412	30,988
2013	42,328	641	8,022	2,426	31,239
2014	42,662	649	8,068	2,436	31,509
2015	43,057	637	8,087	2,430	31,903
2016	43,486	620	8,087	2,450	32,329
Change in % on the corresponding period of the previous year
2005	0.0	-3.2	-1.7	-3.4	0.8
2006	0.8	-2.2	-1.1	-0.2	1.4
2007	1.7	2.1	1.4	1.7	1.8
2008	1.3	0.4	2.3	-0.5	1.2
2009	0.1	-0.4	-2.2	0.5	0.7
2010	0.3	-0.9	-1.8	0.8	0.8
2011	1.4	1.4	1.9	1.9	1.2
2012	1.2	-0.4	1.8	1.5	1.0
2013	0.6	-3.9	0.4	0.6	0.8
2014	0.8	1.2	0.6	0.4	0.9
2015	0.9	-1.8	0.2	-0.2	1.3
2016	1.0	-2.7	0.0	0.8	1.3
Percentage shares of the economic sectors in the total number of persons in employment
1991	100	3.0	28.3	7.4	61.3
2005	100	1.7	19.9	5.8	72.6
2006	100	1.6	19.5	5.7	73.1
2007	100	1.7	19.4	5.7	73.2
2008	100	1.6	19.6	5.6	73.1
2009	100	1.6	19.2	5.7	73.5
2010	100	1.6	18.8	5.7	73.9
2011	100	1.6	18.9	5.7	73.8
2012	100	1.6	19.0	5.7	73.7
2013	100	1.5	19.0	5.7	73.8
2014	100	1.5	18.9	5.7	73.9
2015	100	1.5	18.8	5.6	74.1
2016	100	1.4	18.6	5.6	74.3

Detailed data and long time series on persons in employment and unemployed persons are available from the tables persons in employment (81000-0015) and on the labour force including unemployed persons (81000-0011) in the -Onlinedatabase.

The current data and brief methodological notes regarding the calculation of employment and unemployment figures are available on the Destatiswebsite.

For further information:
Christoph-Martin Mai,
tel. +49 (0) 611 / 75 33 78,

Ulf-Karsten Keil,
tel. +49 (0) 611 / 75 26 33,
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