The number of employees in Germany's important manufacturing sector declined by 1.8 percent in April year-on-year, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) announced on Monday.
By the end of April, 5.6 million people worked in Germany's manufacturing companies with 50 or more employees, about 105,000 less than a year ago, according to the provisional results by Destatis.
German manufacturers of rubber and plastic products, in particular, recorded a strong decline of 4.2 percent in employees year-on-year.
Manufacturers of chemicals and chemical products, however, recorded a 1.5 percent growth in their workforce year-on-year.
According to Destatis, the total number of hours worked in April decreased by 16.9 percent year-on-year while total wages of the manufacturing sector amounted to 23.3 billion euros (26.2 billion U.S. dollars), 12.3 percent less than in April 2019.
"The effects of the COVID-19 crisis were evident in terms of hours worked in almost all sectors of the economy. The increase in short-time working was clearly noticeable here," Destatis noted.
褰檽锟斤拷?