As reported by the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on May 16, in the first quarter of the current year the number of persons in employment in the German manufacturing industry (excluding construction) rose 46,000 persons or 0.6 percent year on year, but was down by 63,000 persons or 0.9 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2012, amounting to 7.27 million persons.
In Germany's construction sector, the number of persons employed totaled 2.4 million in the first quarter of the year, rising by 21,000 or 0.9 percent compared with the same quarter a year earlier and down 98,000 or 3.9 percent from the previous quarter.