Employment at a new high in 2023: 45.9 million people in work
One reason for the increase in employment in 2023 was the immigration of foreign workers, according to the statistics office. In addition, there was an increase in the labor force participation of the domestic population. These two growth impulses therefore outweighed the dampening effects of demographic change on the labor market - the statisticians expect demographic developments to lead to a significant decline in the working-age population in the medium term.
In 2020, the coronavirus crisis ended the 14-year rise in the number of people in employment and led to a decline of 0.8%. After the pandemic, employment initially increased only slightly in 2021, but then rose sharply in 2022.
In 2023, most new jobs were created in the service sector, particularly in public services, education and healthcare. Overall, nine out of ten of the additional employees found a job in the service sectors, as the statistics office explained - their number increased by 295,000.
The second strongest absolute increase was recorded in the trade, transport and hospitality sector with 87,000 people in employment. Employment in this sector had fallen significantly during the pandemic. In 2023, however, it was still below the pre-crisis level of 2019. The number of people in employment in agriculture and fishing fell last year - a trend that has been continuing for years.
The workforce includes employees and the self-employed. The number of employees subject to social security contributions and marginal employees increased by 0.9% to 42.1 million. The number of self-employed persons, on the other hand, continued to fall by 30,000 to 3.9 million. The number has been shrinking for twelve years, according to the statisticians.
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Source: www.stern.de
