FRANKFURT: The number of employed people in Germany continued to rise this spring, with the second quarter showing there were 46.1 million employed or self-employed people, a seasonally adjusted increase of 0.1 percent over the previous quarter.

The data, released on Friday by the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden, also showed a 0.4 percent rise over the second quarter in 2023, German news agency dpa reported on Friday.

Still, these figures are lower than the EU average of a 0.7 percent quarterly and 0.8 percent annual second quarter increase. The last time Germany saw a decline in employment was in the first quarter of 2021, marked by the coronavirus pandemic.

New jobs were created almost exclusively in the service sector, with 229,000 additional employees. In industry and construction, however, job losses continued due to sluggish economic conditions. Here, 65,000 fewer people were employed than a year earlier.

The number of self-employed individuals, including assisting family members, also decli
ned. Their number fell by 29,000 to 3.8 million people. In comparison, there were 42.3 million employees. This is 196,000 people or 0.5 percent more than a year earlier. On average, the employed worked 318.2 hours in the quarter. This is an increase of 0.4 percent.

Source : Emirates News Agency