As of the end of November 2007 almost 5.3 million people worked in the German industry. According to the Federal Statistical Office this corresponded to an increase by 110.800 people (+2.1%) in comparison with November 2006. Accordingly the number of hours worked by November 2007 increased by 1.8% to 728 million. Gross wages and salaries added up to 22.7 billion Euros (+3.7%).
Taking into account the employment development in those lines of industry which are the most important by size, the strongest increases were registered in the metalworking industry (+5.8%) and in mechanical engineering (+5.0%). Less incouraging than in the processing industry, however, was the development of the number of employees in the field of motor vehicles manufacturing and the production of spare parts thereof which grew by 0.4%; in the food industry employment fell by 0.5%.
The above figures relate to companies with at least 50 employees only. 