As reported by the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on October 16, the current weakness of the overall economy is having a negative impact on the employment figures in Germany's manufacturing sector.
At the end of August this year, 5.0 million persons worked in local German manufacturing units with 50 or more employees, which was down about 229,000 persons or 4.4 percent compared to August last year. The number of hours worked in August 2009 in the German manufacturing sector decreased by 10.2 percent from a year earlier, reaching 562 million.
Meanwhile, in the month in question, earnings (total gross wages and salaries) in the sector in question amounted to € 16.0 billion, decreasing by 7.5 percent year on year.