Germany

1.Series

Title:

Registered unemployment.

Starting year:

Not specified.

2.Agency making the initial registrations of unemployed persons

Name of the agency:

Bundesanstalt für Arbeit (Federal Labour Office).

Type of agency:

Public service under a national authority.

Name of the national authority:

Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Arbeit (Ministry of Economy and Labour).

Location of the local offices making the registrations:

In all parts of the country.

Type of services provided/administered by the agency:

  • Assisting job-seekers to find jobs;
  • Assisting job-seekers to establish their own business;
  • Assisting employers to find workers;
  • Vocational guidance;
  • Job-related training;
  • Paying unemployment compensation.

    Percentage of job-seekers seeking work through the agency:

    This varies between regions.

    3.The following information is registered about a person:

  • Name;
  • Sex;
  • Social security number (or similar identification number also used by other agencies);
  • Address of usual residence;
  • Date of birth;
  • Citizenship;
  • Nationality/ethnic group;
  • Educational/vocational attainment, with 5 categories distinguished. Links to ISCED have not been established;
  • Past activity status, with 5 categories distinguished;
  • Type of work (occupation) of past or present job with an unspecified number of groups distinguished. Links to ISCO-88 have been established;
  • Type of work (occupation) of job sought, with an unspecified number of groups distinguished. Links to ISCO-88 have been established;
  • Type of business (industry) of present/previous employer/workplace, with an unspecified number of groups distinguished. Links to ISIC, rev.3 or NACE, rev.1 have been established (group level).

    4.Criteria used for inclusion of a person in the registers (R)* and/or the statistics of unemployed persons (S):

  • Being without work (S);
  • Seeking work (S);
  • Availability for work (S);
  • Age (lower limit: 15 years; upper limit: 65 years) (S);
  • Citizenship (S);
  • Being resident in the country (S);
  • Desired duration of employment and/or number of hours of work sought (minimum 15 hours a week) (S).

    * Applicants can be listed as unemployed or as non-unemployed jobseekers.

    5.Criteria used for exclusion of a person from the registers (R) and/or the statistics of unemployed persons (S):

  • Death (R) and (S);
  • Commencement of a (new) job (S);
  • Commencement of military service (S);
  • Participation in an employment promotion scheme, public works programme, etc. (S);
  • Studying or undergoing training (S);
  • Failure to contact the agency/service (S);
  • Refusal of an unspecified number of suitable job offers (S);
  • Refusal of an unspecified number of suitable training offers (S);
  • Receipt of a pension (S);
  • Inability to work (due to illness; maternity leave; cure, etc.) (S).

    6.Definition of unemployed persons used for the statistics

    Unemployed persons are those who:
  • are temporarily not in an employment relationship;
  • are seeking a compulsorily insured employment;
  • are available for an Employment Office placement;
  • are reported as being unemployed at the Employment Office;
  • are not more than 65 years old; and
  • are not unable to work due to sickness.

    In order to be counted as unemployed in the statistics all the criteria must be satisfied simultaneously.

    7.Updating of the registers

    The registers (statistics) are updated monthly.

    8.Unemployment rates

    Statistics from the registers are used to obtain unemployment rates.

    The sources of data on employed persons who are part of the denominator of the unemployment rates are Federal Labour Office employment and unemployment statistics and public service personnel statistics.

    Definition of employed persons for this purpose:

  • Civilian employees;
  • All civilian economically active persons.

    9.Type of statistics of unemployed persons produced

    Reference period:

    Month.

    Frequency of production:

    Monthly.

    Descriptive variables used:

  • Sex;
  • Age;
  • Educational level;
  • Occupation;
  • Industry;
  • Geographic characteristics;
  • Previous work experience;
  • Citizenship (nationals/non nationals);
  • Duration of unemployment.

    Form of publication:

  • On paper, for general audience;
  • On a website (www.arbeitsamt.de).

    Agency responsible for publication:

    Bundesanstalt für Arbeit (Federal Labour Office).

    Title and periodicity of the publication:

    Amtliche Nachrichten der Bundesanstalt für Arbeit (ANBA), monthly.

    10.Methodological information about the statistics

    Form of release:

    On paper, for general audience;

    Agency responsible for the release:

    Bundesanstalt für Arbeit (Federal Labour Office).

    11.Comparisons with unemployment statistics from other sources

    Comparisons have been made with unemployment statistics from the Labour Force Survey.

    12.Major changes since the start of the statistics

    There have been no major changes in legislation, capacity of the agency and/or administrative procedures which had a significant influence on the statistics.