Status: 02.01.2023 09:50 a.m
More people were employed in the German economy last year than at any time since reunification. People found new jobs primarily in the public sector.
Despite the energy crisis, high inflation and a shortage of materials, the number of people in employment in Germany reached a record level last year. It rose by 589,000 or 1.3 percent to around 45.6 million, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office. “That was more than ever since German unification in 1990,” it said. The previous high of 45.3 million employed persons in 2019 was thus exceeded by around 292,000.
In 2020, the Corona crisis ended the 14-year rise in the number of people in employment, leading to a decline of 362,000, followed by a slight increase of 65,000 in 2021.
More employees, fewer self-employed
According to the information, 93 percent of the increase in employment can be attributed to service providers. There was an increase of 548,000 people or 1.6 percent in 2022. The largest absolute increase was in the area of public service providers, education, health with 189,000. “This industry had already increased its workforce by a similar amount during the Corona years of 2020 and 2021,” it said.
The trade, transport and hospitality sectors also employed more people with 180,000 more people, as did corporate service providers with 88,000 more people. However, these two sectors were not able to make up for their losses from the two previous Corona years. In the manufacturing industry (excluding construction), on the other hand, the number of people in employment rose by only 31,000 or 0.4 percent to around 8.1 million people. The number of self-employed and their family workers also fell again, by 1.4 percent. They still made up 3.9 million people.
The number of unemployed falls significantly
One reason for the increase in employment in 2022 was the immigration of foreign workers. “In addition, there was an increased participation in the labor force of the domestic population,” the statisticians explained. These two growth stimuli then outweighed the dampening effects of demographic change on the labor market, which is likely to lead to a significant decline in the working-age population in the medium term.
The Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) assumes that employment will peak this year. The number is expected to drop again in 2024. “Companies’ demand for labor is primarily being dampened by the economic consequences of the energy crisis, but the sharp increase in the minimum wage to EUR 12 is also likely to have negative employment effects,” it said.