Monday, January 03, 2022
But only very easily
The number of people in employment will rise again in 2021
In the last year of the Corona crisis, the 14-year increase in employment came to an abrupt end. After the decline, the number in Germany will increase slightly again in 2021. Public service providers record the greatest profits.
The number of people in employment in Germany rose again last year after the corona-related decline in 2020 – albeit only very slightly. It increased by 7,000 to around 44.9 million, as the Federal Statistical Office announced after preliminary calculations. In 2020, the corona crisis ended the 14-year increase in employment and led to a decrease of 370,000.
“The increase in employment that has continued since 2006 would probably have come to an end soon, even without the Corona crisis, as the potential labor force is dwindling due to demographic change,” emphasized the statisticians. “This development is currently being compensated less and less by a higher labor force participation of the domestic population as well as the immigration of foreign workers.”
According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW), the number of people in employment is likely to rise noticeably this year and next with the expected economic recovery. In 2023 it should be around 45.5 million. “This will also reach the zenith,” said IfW Vice President Stefan Kooths. “Because after that, more people leave working life than new ones join the labor market.” This effect cannot be “reversed, but only mitigated” through more immigration and greater participation in the labor force, for example of mothers.
The developments in the individual economic sectors diverged widely in 2021. The service providers saw an increase in employment of 94,000 or 0.3 percent to around 33.7 million. In 2020 there was a minus of 0.6 percent. The largest increases were in the area of public service providers, education, health with 249,000 (+2.2 percent) and in the area of information and communication with 33,000 (+2.4 percent). Both areas were able to achieve growth in the crisis year 2020.
There are “very positive impulses” from the construction industry
For corporate service providers, which include temporary workers, there was an increase of 33,000 or 0.5 percent, but this could not make up for the decline in 2020. A decrease of 176,000 people (-1.8 percent) was registered in the trade, transport, and hospitality sector, following a decrease of 218,000 or 2.1 percent in 2020. Outside the service sector, employment fell overall: in the manufacturing sector (excluding construction) it fell by 96,000 or 1.2 percent to around 8.1 million.
With an increase of 31,000 people in employment (+1.2 percent) to around 2.6 million, the construction industry “continued to provide very positive impulses as evidence of the ongoing construction activity,” according to statisticians. In agriculture, forestry and fishing, 22,000 fewer people were employed than in 2020, which corresponds to a significant decrease of 3.8 percent to 558,000.
The number of all employees increased by 115,000 people or 0.3 percent to around 41.0 million on an annual average in 2021. The positive development in employment subject to social security contributions made a significant contribution to this. “For the self-employed, including family workers, the decade-long downward trend continued in 2021,” it said. Their number fell by 108,000 to 3.9 million (-2.7 percent).