The number of people who are working in Germany has reached a record high, despite the energy crisis, high inflation and product shortages.

Employment numbers reach high in Germany

New data from Destatis has revealed that the number of people employed in Germany has reached record highs, with the highest percentage of the population being employed since the reunification of Germany in 1990.

In the past year the number of people working in Germany has risen by 589.000 to 45,6 million people. The previous record was set in 2019, when 45,3 million people were recorded as working in the federal republic.

Until the 2020 outbreak of coronavirus, the number of people working in Germany had been consistently growing for 14 years, but many people losing their jobs and the economic setbacks brought about by coronavirus restrictions meant employee numbers rolled back by 362.000. In 2021 the numbers of people registered as employed had a small resurgence of 65.000.

Labour force must continue to grow in Germany

The statisticians who compiled the data wrote that one cause of the pick up in employment numbers in 2022 was the increasing number of migrant workers coming to Germany. Germany is currently in the throws of a major worker shortage, one that is soon expected to get desperate, and a part motivation for the current government's plans to liberalise policies on immigration and citizenship.

On top of the 2022 arrival of more workers from outside of Germany came an increasing number of German nationals who were participating in the workforce - leading to a massive overall growth. This change is expected to lead to a shift in the age demographics of the working population.

Of the industries that people in Germany were employed in, public service bodies employed 93 percent of those newly assigned and the number of people employed grew by 548.000 people. These jobs were dominated by public services sectors such as education and health.

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