On an annual average in 2018, approximately 44.8 million people were employed in Germany, up by 562,000 persons, or 1.3%, compared to last year, according to data by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).

Destatis added that increased labour force participation and the immigration of foreign workers offset negative demographic effects, reaching the highest number of persons in employment since reunification in the year 2018.

Despite the 1.3% growth, it was a slight slowdown from 2017 when the growth rate was 1.4%. However, overall employment has grown for 13 consecutive years.

The services sector saw the biggest increase of employed persons with a gain of 1.2% over the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the number of unemployed fell by an annual average of 201,000 in 2018 (-8.0%) to just under 1.5 million. The unemployment rate fell from 3.5% in the previous year to 3.2%.