Employment in Germany shrank last year at the fastest pace in a decade as Europe's largest economy suffered its weakest period since a recession in 1993.
According to preliminary data released by the Federal Statistics Office on Tuesday, employment fell 392,000, or one percent, to around 38.3 million.
It was the biggest annual drop in employment since Germany's last full-year recession in 1993, when employment shrank 513,000, the office said.
Germany's economy contracted in the first two quarters of 2003 and analysts expect it stagnated at best in the year as a whole. Although the economy is growing again, no turnaround on the labour market is expected until mid-2004.
Data due to be released on Thursday is expected to show seasonally adjusted unemployment fell in December, according to a Reuters poll.
However, analysts attribute the decline to government labour market reforms which are removing long-term unemployed from jobless registers rather than a pick up in employment.
Most survey data continue to indicate German companies are shedding jobs domestically, both in manufacturing and services.
The statistics office data showed all industries lost jobs in 2003, including services, where the workforce shrank an estimated 0.1 percent to 26.9 million - the first annual drop in the sector since German unification in 1990.
However, services' share of total employment rose to 70.4 percent from 69.7 percent as other sectors lost more workers.
Manufacturing shed an estimated 2.6 percent of jobs, reducing employment to 8.1 million. Employment in construction fell 5.1 percent to 2.3 million.
Employment in farming and forestry fell for a fifth year to an estimated 927,000, or 2.4 percent of the total workforce.
However, partly as a result of the government reforms, which include subsidies to encourage people to set up their own firms, self-employment rose 1.3 percent to 4.2 million.
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