GERMANY – LABOUR COSTS AND TOTAL AMOUNT OF HOURS WORKED INCREASE IN THE FIRST QUARTER

Labour costs in Germany for the first quarter of 2017 increased by 2.5% when compared to the previous year according to figures from Destatis, the Federal Statistical Office.

Destatis also reported that, compared with the previous quarter, labour costs were up 0.5% in seasonally and calendar adjusted terms. Labour costs consist of gross earnings and non-wage costs. In calendar adjusted terms, the costs of gross earnings in the first quarter of 2017 rose by 1.9% on the first quarter of 2016, while non-wage costs were up 4.5%. This was mainly due to the number of staff on sick leave, which was higher than a year earlier.

Meanwhile, the workforce in Germany worked a total of 15.3 billion hours in the first quarter of 2017, an increase of 3.2% compared to the same period last year, according to data from Institute for Labour Market and Professional Research (IAB).

“The volume of work has risen sharply compared to the previous year, but labour productivity was even lower than a year earlier,” Enzo Weber, Director of the IAB Research Centre, said.

The data from IAB also showed that the number of full-time employees grew by 1.4 % in Q1 2017 compared to the previous year. The number of part-time employees increased by 2.2% while total employment grew by 1.5% in the same period. Part-time worker hours increased by 1.1% in Q1 2017 compared to the previous year while full-time worker hours remained the same.

Source: www2.staffingindustry.com