Employees

In the average for 2010, there were 3 533 000 employees according to the LFS, of whom 1 848 500 were men and 1 684 300 were women. The number of employees stayed at the same level over the previous year, the number of female employees as well as the number of male employees.

Over the past 10 years, the extent of employment has steadily increased, with small fluctuations.

It should be noted, however, that the large scale restructuring of the LFS which took place in early 2004 entailed a noticeable disruption to the time series, which affects both longer term comparisons and, above all, comparison of 2004 with 2003.

Note: Under the Labour Force Concept (ILO definition), a person is considered to be employed if he or she worked for at least one hour in the reference week, or did not work due to holiday, illness, etc. but is normally in employment. A person is considered to be unemployed if he or she is not employed in the above sense, is taking active steps to look for work, and is able to start work at short notice. In principle, the data relates to the population living in private households without persons performing military or community service. People with valid employment contracts who are drawing maternity/paternity or child benefit are included.

Please consult our German website for tables and charts containing further information.