New record of occupation in Germany, with 44.5 million employees

The number of employed reached a new record in Germany in the third quarter of the year, with 44.5 million employees, according to the provisional data made public today by the Office Federal Statistics Office (Destatis).

Berlin, Nov 16 (EFE) .- The number of employed reached a new record in Germany in the third quarter of the year, with 44.5 million employees, according to the provisional data made public today by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).

There are 668,000 more than in the same quarter of 2016 and represents a growth of 1.5%, the same percentage that was registered in the first and in the second half of the year.

With respect to the second semester, the number of employed persons increased by 0.6% (275,000 people), said Destatis, who pointed out that, although the increase in this period is usual, especially for the incorporation into the labor market of young people who begin their dual professional training, this year has been higher than the average.

The number of employees per account for the first time, the barrier exceeded 40 million, rising by 1.8% in the quarter, while the figure for freelancers (including family members hired by these), up to 4.3 million.

Overall, the year-on-year increase in employment was especially important in the public services, education and health sector (1.9%), companies in the service sector (2.7%) and in commerce, transport and hotels (1.3%).

The growth of employment in productive companies was 0.8%, while construction was 1.8% and in agriculture and fishing 0.5%.

Only the occupation in the financial and insurance sector fell, where there were 20,000 less employed in the third quarter (1.7% less than a year ago).