Germany number of persons in employment
Germany number of persons in employment stood at 45,688 thousands in Q2 2026, according to Institute for Employment Research (IAB) of the Federal Employment Agency. It is one of the indicators in the IAB working time accounts table (Value · Quarterly), with a complete series running from Q1 1991 to Q2 2026. The complete series with an interactive chart, free to download.
This indicator in the IAB working time accounts table
| Indicator | Q2-2026 | Q1-2026 | Q4-2025 | Q3-2025 | Q2-2025 | Q1-2025 | Q4-2024 | Q3-2024 | Q2-2024 | Q1-2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hours worked and labour volume | |||||||||||
| Persons in work1 | 45,688 | 45,525 | 46,006 | 45,892 | 45,900 | 45,715 | 46,156 | 45,994 | 45,959 | 45,730 | |
| Self-employed and family workers | 3,614 | 3,628 | 3,640 | 3,655 | 3,672 | 3,692 | 3,711 | 3,732 | 3,750 | 3,767 |
Understanding germany number of persons in employment
Total headcount of all individuals contributing labour within the domestic economic territory is recorded by this series. It encompasses wage earners in full-time, part-time, and marginal employment, alongside self-employed business owners, freelance professionals, and unpaid family helpers. Each working person is counted exactly once at their primary status, regardless of whether they perform multiple jobs or secondary activities. The measure differs from labour volume statistics by evaluating physical headcount rather than hours performed, and it represents the overarching parent aggregate for all specific employment breakdowns in this section.
Contractual employment adjusts with greater inertia than aggregate hours, but seasonal hiring in outdoor and hospitality trades still shapes quarterly figures. Evaluating year-on-year variations between matching quarters provides a clean perspective on employment creation by eliminating seasonal hiring cycles and calendar noise. Initial releases rely on provisional notifications from social security bodies and establishment surveys, which are updated in subsequent quarters as full administrative payroll registrations arrive. Analysts should note that this series follows the domestic workplace concept, counting cross-border commuters who work domestically while excluding resident individuals who commute to jobs outside national borders.
Frequently asked questions
- Does this series count jobs or individual persons?
- The series counts individual persons, meaning an employee working multiple jobs is recorded only once.
- How does the domestic concept affect this employment headcount?
- It counts all persons working within the domestic territory, including inward cross-border commuters and excluding residents commuting abroad.
- Why can headcount trends diverge from labour volume trends?
- Headcount measures only the number of workers, while labour volume also reflects fluctuations in average hours worked, sickness, overtime, and part-time shares.