Press release No. 448 of 22 November 2019
Gross domestic product (GDP), 3rd quarter of 2019
+0.1% on the previous quarter (price, seasonally and calendar-adjusted)
+1.0% on the same quarter a year earlier (price-adjusted)
+0.5% on the same quarter a year earlier (price and calendar-adjusted)
WIESBADEN – The German economy grew slightly in the third quarter of 2019. The gross domestic product rose 0.1% on the second quarter of 2019 after adjustment for price, seasonal and calendar variations. As the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) had also reported in its first release of 14 November 2019, German economic performance in the second quarter of 2019 had been down 0.2%. In the first quarter of 2019, the German economy had grown by 0.5%.
| 2018 | 2019 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st qtr | 2nd qtr | 3rd qtr | 4th qtr | 1st qtr | 2nd qtr | 3rd qtr |
| 0.1 | 0.4 | -0.1 | 0.2 | 0.5 | -0.2 | 0.1 |
Increases in final consumption expenditure support economic activity
The quarter-on-quarter comparison (price, seasonally and calendar-adjusted) shows that positive contributions came from consumption, according to provisional calculations. Household final consumption expenditure increased by 0.4% on the second quarter of 2019 and government final consumption expenditure rose by 0.8%. Also, fixed capital formation in construction was markedly up on the previous quarter (+1.2%) and fixed capital formation in other products, which includes expenditure on research and development, rose 1.0%. Fixed capital formation in machinery and equipment was down by 2.6%, which was mainly due to special effects regarding general government fixed capital formation in machinery and equipment.
Development of foreign trade made a positive contribution to economic growth, according to provisional calculations. Exports were up 1.0% (price, seasonally and calendar adjusted) on the second quarter of 2019, which had seen a sharp drop in goods exports. Imports in the third quarter of 2019 remained roughly at previous quarter's level (+0.1%).
Gross domestic product also increased on the previous year
Compared with a year earlier, the price-adjusted GDP rose 1.0% in the third quarter of 2019. After calendar adjustment, GDP was up by 0.5% on the third quarter of 2018 because there was one working day more than a year earlier. According to most recent calculations, the price-adjusted GDP in the second quarter of 2019 was by 0.1% lower than a year earlier (calendar- adjusted: +0.3%), in the first quarter of 2019 it was by 0.9% higher (calendar-adjusted: +1.0%).
| 2018 | 2019 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st qtr | 2nd qtr | 3rd qtr | 4th qtr | 1st qtr | 2nd qtr | 3rd qtr |
| 1.6 | 2.5 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.9 | -0.1 | 1.0 |
Number of persons in employment up also in 3rd quarter of 2019
The economic performance in the third quarter of 2019 was achieved by 45.4 million persons in employment. This was an increase of 356,000, or 0.8%, on a year earlier (see press release 442/19 of 18 November 2019). Employment thus reached its highest level since German reunification in 1990.
Overall labour productivity (price-adjusted gross domestic product per hour worked by persons in employment) was basically on the level of the previous year, according to provisional calculations. Measured per person in employment, labour productivity rose by 0.2%.
Positive contributions from domestic and foreign demand, compared with a year earlier
In a year-on-year comparison, too, consumption supported the German economy. Household final consumption expenditure rose by a price-adjusted 2.1% on a year earlier, while government final consumption expenditure was up 2.3%. Gross fixed capital formation in machinery and equipment increased a price-adjusted 0.8% on the third quarter of 2018. Excluding the special effects for general government, gross fixed capital formation in machinery and equipment of the non-government sectors rose 1.2%. Gross fixed capital formation in construction was up by 4.5%. A marked year-on-year increase was recorded especially in housing construction. On the whole, domestic uses (consumption and fixed capital formation) were up 0.7%.
Development of foreign trade had a positive effect on economic growth also in a year-on-year comparison. According to provisional calculations, price-adjusted exports of goods and services increased 2.5%, which was a slightly larger increase than that of imports (+2.0%).
Gross value added down again in industry
On the production side of the gross domestic product, price-adjusted gross value added was higher in almost all economic sectors in the third quarter of 2019 than in the third quarter of 2018. Only in manufacturing, which accounts for slightly more than a fifth of German gross value added, the economic performance was down on a year earlier (-2.6%). The largest growth rates were recorded for construction (+5.3%), information and communication (+3.2%) and trade, transport, accommodation and food services (+3.2%).
Strong increase in compensation of employees
At current prices, the gross domestic product increased by 3.1% and the gross national income by 3.2% in the third quarter of 2019 compared with the same quarter of 2018. Net national income at factor cost rose a total 2.9%, with the two components showing quite different trends. While the compensation of employees (gross wages and salaries plus employers' social contributions) increased substantially (+4.4%), property and entrepreneurial income was down 0.7% according to first provisional calculations. Gross wages and salaries of employees were up 4.3% on the third quarter of 2018, net wages and salaries even 4.7%. On average, wages and salaries per employee did not rise that much (3.2% in gross terms and 3.6% in net terms) because the number of employees continued to increase as well (+1.0%) compared with the same quarter one year earlier. The disposable income of households increased by 3.4%, at nearly the same rate as household final consumption expenditure at current prices (3.5%).
Results reviewed for first and second quarter of 2019
In addition to calculating first data for the third quarter of 2019, the Federal Statistical Office reviewed and revised, where necessary, the results published previously for the first and second quarter of 2019. The first provisional results are reviewed to incorporate new statistical information. In this way, the best possible results at the relevant publication date are available to data users for analyses and forecasts. As reported in the first release of 14 November 2019,, the current recalculation resulted in revised GDP results for the first and second quarter that differ from the data published previously by up to 0.1 percentage points. For the individual components, this may lead to larger changes in the results released earlier, as is usual; for seasonally and calendar-adjusted series, this applies to the entire series as from 1991.
| Unadjusted figures | Figures according to X13 price-adjusted | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| At current prices | Price-adjusted | Seasonally and calendar-adjusted | calendar-adjusted | |||||
| EUR billion | % 1 | 2015 = 100 | % 1 | 2015 = 100 | % 2 | % 1 3 | ||
| 1 Change on the previous year or the same quarter of the preceding year in %. 2 Change on the previous year or quarter in %. 3 As for years, the calendar-adjusted values equal the seasonally and calendar-adjusted values (except for differences due to rounding). qtr = quarter | ||||||||
| 2017 | 3,244.99 | 3.5 | 104.75 | 2.5 | 104.87 | 2.8 | 2.8 | |
| 2018 | 3,344.37 | 3.1 | 106.35 | 1.5 | 106.49 | 1.5 | 1.5 | |
| 2017 | 1st qtr | 793.76 | 4.2 | 103.58 | 3.6 | 103.79 | 1.2 | 2.4 |
| 2nd qtr | 796.10 | 2.1 | 103.17 | 1.0 | 104.37 | 0.6 | 2.3 | |
| 3rd qtr | 818.42 | 3.7 | 105.54 | 2.5 | 105.27 | 0.9 | 3.0 | |
| 4th qtr | 836.71 | 4.2 | 106.71 | 2.8 | 106.04 | 0.7 | 3.4 | |
| 2018 | 1st qtr | 819.26 | 3.2 | 105.28 | 1.6 | 106.18 | 0.1 | 2.3 |
| 2nd qtr | 827.66 | 4.0 | 105.75 | 2.5 | 106.59 | 0.4 | 2.1 | |
| 3rd qtr | 836.96 | 2.3 | 106.69 | 1.1 | 106.48 | -0.1 | 1.1 | |
| 4th qtr | 860.49 | 2.8 | 107.66 | 0.9 | 106.70 | 0.2 | 0.6 | |
| 2019 | 1st qtr | 841.68 | 2.7 | 106.24 | 0.9 | 107.20 | 0.5 | 1.0 |
| 2nd qtr | 845.11 | 2.1 | 105.69 | -0.1 | 106.94 | -0.2 | 0.3 | |
| 3rd qtr | 863.09 | 3.1 | 107.76 | 1.0 | 107.03 | 0.1 | 0.5 | |
| 2018 | 2019 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 3rd qtr | 4th qtr | 1st qtr | 2nd qtr | 3rd qtr | |
| qtr = quarter | ||||||
| At current prices | ||||||
| EUR bn | ||||||
| Consumption expenditure | 2,409.282 | 603.378 | 628.506 | 598.409 | 614.946 | 625.962 |
| Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs | 1,743.685 | 440.822 | 449.103 | 430.847 | 445.500 | 456.184 |
| Government final consumption expenditure | 665.597 | 162.556 | 179.403 | 167.562 | 169.446 | 169.778 |
| Gross capital formation | 729.029 | 194.759 | 187.426 | 187.170 | 179.534 | 190.516 |
| Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) | 707.719 | 181.239 | 188.898 | 170.423 | 188.662 | 191.902 |
| GFCF in construction | 344.300 | 93.463 | 86.153 | 83.832 | 96.180 | 101.686 |
| GFCF in machinery and equipment | 235.280 | 56.368 | 66.609 | 55.541 | 60.193 | 57.488 |
| GFCF in other products | 128.139 | 31.408 | 36.136 | 31.050 | 32.289 | 32.728 |
| Domestic uses | 3,138.311 | 798.137 | 815.932 | 785.579 | 794.480 | 816.478 |
| Exports | 1,585.770 | 392.668 | 400.332 | 404.147 | 399.556 | 403.709 |
| Imports | 1,379.711 | 353.845 | 355.774 | 348.046 | 348.926 | 357.097 |
| Gross domestic product (GDP) | 3,344.370 | 836.960 | 860.490 | 841.680 | 845.110 | 863.090 |
| Price-adjusted | ||||||
| change on the previous year in % | ||||||
| Consumption expenditure | 1.3 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.6 | 2.1 |
| Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs | 1.3 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.1 |
| Government final consumption expenditure | 1.4 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 2.3 |
| Gross capital formation | 4.9 | 7.6 | 6.5 | 4.2 | 1.2 | -3.8 |
| Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) | 3.5 | 3.3 | 3.7 | 4.6 | 2.0 | 3.1 |
| GFCF in construction | 2.5 | 2.6 | 4.0 | 6.6 | 2.1 | 4.5 |
| GFCF in machinery and equipment | 4.4 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 2.8 | 1.2 | 0.8 |
| GFCF in other products | 4.3 | 4.8 | 3.8 | 3.0 | 2.7 | 2.6 |
| Domestic uses | 2.1 | 2.4 | 2.4 | 1.9 | 1.5 | 0.7 |
| Exports | 2.1 | 1.3 | -0.1 | 1.7 | -1.2 | 2.5 |
| Imports | 3.6 | 4.3 | 3.1 | 4.1 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Gross domestic product (GDP) | 1.5 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.9 | -0.1 | 1.0 |
| memorandum item: | ||||||
| GDP per person in employment | 0.1 | -0.2 | -0.4 | -0.2 | -1.0 | 0.2 |
| GDP per hour worked by persons in employment | 0.3 | 0.0 | -0.8 | -0.5 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Contributions to growth of price-adjusted GDP in percentage points | ||||||
| Consumption expenditure | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 1.5 |
| Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 1.1 |
| Government final consumption expenditure | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.5 |
| Gross capital formation | 1.0 | 1.6 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 0.3 | -0.9 |
| Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.7 |
| GFCF in construction | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.5 |
| GFCF in machinery and equipment | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| GFCF in other products | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Changes in inventories and so on | 0.3 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.0 | -0.2 | -1.6 |
| Domestic uses | 2.0 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 1.8 | 1.4 | 0.7 |
| Balance of exports and imports (net exports) | -0.4 | -1.1 | -1.3 | -0.8 | -1.4 | 0.3 |
| 2018 | 2019 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3rd qtr | 4th qtr | 1st qtr | 2nd qtr | 3rd qtr | |
| 1 Only seasonally adjusted. qtr = quarter | |||||
| At current prices | |||||
| EUR bn | |||||
| Consumption expenditure | 604.182 | 609.120 | 614.541 | 620.543 | 625.339 |
| Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs | 437.172 | 440.457 | 444.023 | 447.717 | 450.912 |
| Government final consumption expenditure | 167.010 | 168.663 | 170.518 | 172.826 | 174.427 |
| Gross capital formation | 185.887 | 191.420 | 185.113 | 189.542 | 180.007 |
| Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) | 178.879 | 181.955 | 186.054 | 186.906 | 187.735 |
| GFCF in construction | 87.341 | 89.424 | 92.706 | 92.606 | 94.382 |
| GFCF in machinery and equipment | 59.261 | 59.741 | 60.599 | 61.117 | 59.703 |
| GFCF in other products | 32.277 | 32.790 | 32.749 | 33.183 | 33.650 |
| Domestic uses | 790.069 | 800.540 | 799.654 | 810.085 | 805.346 |
| Exports | 398.266 | 400.499 | 406.289 | 401.119 | 405.880 |
| Imports | 351.040 | 353.913 | 354.173 | 354.430 | 351.664 |
| Gross domestic product (GDP) | 837.295 | 847.126 | 851.770 | 856.774 | 859.562 |
| Price-adjusted | |||||
| Change on the previous quarter in % | |||||
| Consumption expenditure | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.5 |
| Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 0.4 |
| Government final consumption expenditure | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.8 |
| Gross capital formation | 3.9 | 0.3 | -2.5 | 0.8 | -3.5 |
| Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) | 0.7 | 0.9 | 1.6 | -0.3 | -0.1 |
| GFCF in construction | 0.7 | 1.2 | 2.5 | -1.1 | 1.2 |
| GFCF in machinery and equipment | 0.5 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 0.3 | -2.6 |
| GFCF in other products | 1.1 | 1.2 | -0.6 | 0.9 | 1.0 |
| Domestic uses | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.3 | -0.4 |
| Exports | -0.9 | 0.2 | 1.6 | -1.3 | 1.0 |
| Imports | 1.3 | 0.6 | 0.8 | -0.1 | 0.1 |
| Gross domestic product (GDP) | -0.1 | 0.2 | 0.5 | -0.2 | 0.1 |
| memorandum item: | |||||
| GDP per person in employment | -0.4 | -0.1 | 0.2 | -0.4 | 0.0 |
| GDP per hour worked by persons in employment 1 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -0.1 |
| Contributions to growth of price-adjusted GDP in percentage points | |||||
| Consumption expenditure | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Final consumption expenditure of households and NPISHs | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| Government final consumption expenditure | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
| Gross capital formation | 0.8 | 0.1 | -0.6 | 0.2 | -0.8 |
| Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.3 | -0.1 | 0.0 |
| GFCF in construction | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 | -0.1 | 0.1 |
| GFCF in machinery and equipment | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 | -0.2 |
| GFCF in other products | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Changes in inventories and so on | 0.7 | -0.1 | -0.9 | 0.2 | -0.7 |
| Domestic uses | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.3 | -0.4 |
| Balance of exports and imports (net exports) | -1.0 | -0.2 | 0.4 | -0.6 | 0.5 |
| 2018 | 2019 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 3rd qtr | 4th qtr | 1st qtr | 2nd qtr | 3rd qtr | |
| qtr = quarter | ||||||
| At current prices | ||||||
| EUR bn | ||||||
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 25.706 | 7.084 | 6.678 | 6.685 | 7.132 | 7.106 |
| Industry, excluding construction | 765.589 | 187.952 | 192.221 | 188.740 | 186.721 | 185.257 |
| including: | ||||||
| Manufacturing | 682.373 | 168.543 | 170.678 | 166.134 | 167.407 | 166.618 |
| Construction | 152.833 | 40.119 | 44.760 | 34.783 | 42.037 | 45.658 |
| Trade, transport, accommodation and food services | 483.694 | 122.037 | 125.036 | 117.813 | 127.459 | 127.407 |
| Information and communication | 137.999 | 34.291 | 35.633 | 36.785 | 34.220 | 36.015 |
| Financial and insurance activities | 117.967 | 29.575 | 29.702 | 29.710 | 29.833 | 29.879 |
| Real estate activities | 315.893 | 79.350 | 78.598 | 81.412 | 80.715 | 82.282 |
| Business services | 346.356 | 88.483 | 88.028 | 88.797 | 84.740 | 90.439 |
| Public services, education, health | 553.137 | 136.559 | 147.208 | 141.799 | 139.682 | 143.014 |
| Other services | 113.136 | 28.706 | 28.709 | 28.940 | 28.611 | 29.564 |
| Gross value added, total | 3,012.310 | 754.156 | 776.573 | 755.464 | 761.150 | 776.621 |
| Price-adjusted | ||||||
| Change on the previous year in % | ||||||
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | -1.3 | -2.1 | -2.1 | -0.2 | 0.3 | 0.9 |
| Industry, excluding construction | 1.3 | 0.2 | -0.8 | -2.2 | -4.7 | -3.1 |
| including: | ||||||
| Manufacturing | 1.5 | 0.1 | -0.6 | -2.2 | -4.8 | -2.6 |
| Construction | 3.4 | 3.3 | 4.9 | 6.5 | 2.5 | 5.3 |
| Trade, transport, accommodation and food services | 1.8 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 2.3 | 1.5 | 3.2 |
| Information and communication | 3.1 | 3.9 | 2.9 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.2 |
| Financial and insurance activities | -0.1 | -1.0 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 2.4 | 3.0 |
| Real estate activities | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Business services | 2.2 | 1.8 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 0.5 |
| Public services, education,health | 1.2 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.5 |
| Other services | 0.1 | -0.1 | 0.6 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.9 |
| Gross value added, total | 1.5 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.8 | -0.1 | 0.8 |
| 2018 | 2019 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 3rd qtr | 4th qtr | 1st qtr | 2nd qtr | 3rd qtr | |
| qtr = quarter | ||||||
| At current prices | ||||||
| EUR bn | ||||||
| Gross national income | 3,437.908 | 862.628 | 894.081 | 868.156 | 856.216 | 890.509 |
| Net national income (factor costs) | 2,503.079 | 626.904 | 660.713 | 625.623 | 614.358 | 644.922 |
| Compensation of employees | 1,771.278 | 437.829 | 487.545 | 431.927 | 452.280 | 457.110 |
| Property and entrepreneurial income | 731.801 | 189.075 | 173.168 | 193.696 | 162.078 | 187.812 |
| Gross wages and salaries of employees | 1,460.927 | 361.723 | 403.259 | 354.728 | 371.640 | 377.120 |
| Net wages and salaries of employees | 975.505 | 246.526 | 269.018 | 238.508 | 243.869 | 258.000 |
| memorandum item: | ||||||
| Disposable income of households | 1,898.499 | 471.291 | 481.480 | 489.273 | 481.765 | 487.312 |
| Savings ratio (in %) | 11.0 | 9.3 | 9.7 | 14.5 | 10.3 | 9.2 |
| Change on the previous year in % | ||||||
| Gross national income | 3.3 | 2.6 | 3.0 | 2.7 | 2.4 | 3.2 |
| Net national income (factor costs) | 3.0 | 1.8 | 3.0 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 2.9 |
| Compensation of employees | 4.5 | 4.9 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 4.6 | 4.4 |
| Property and entrepreneurial income | -0.5 | -4.8 | -0.5 | -2.9 | -4.7 | -0.7 |
| Gross wages and salaries of employees | 4.8 | 5.1 | 4.6 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 4.3 |
| Net wages and salaries of employees | 4.7 | 5.0 | 4.4 | 4.8 | 5.0 | 4.7 |
| memorandum item: | ||||||
| Disposable income of households | 3.5 | 2.9 | 3.7 | 2.3 | 3.0 | 3.4 |
More detailed results have been published in Fachserie 18 “National Accounts“, Series 1.2 “Quarterly results“ and Series 1.3„Seasonally adjusted quarterly results using X13“.
Visualised updated results are also available in interactive national accounts dashboard (only in german).
The above and other current national accounting results are available in the GENESIS-Online database. (81000)
