European Economy. Economic Papers. Germany's growth performance in the 1990's

Table 1.6: Labour input in full-time equivalents (annual average growth)
D
(1)
F
I
US
1991-2000
-0.7
0.2
0.0
1.6
1991-1995
-1.4
-0.5
-0.8
1.2
1996-2000
-0.2
1.0
0.8
2.1
(1)
Due to missing data on full-time equivalents for 1991 averages for Germany are 1992-2000, 1992-1995 and 1996-2000.
Source : Commission services
11
No official data for full-time equivalents exists for Germany. The data series used here has been gratefully
provided by the German “Institut für Arbeitsmark- und Berufsforschung” on the basis of its database on
working time data.
12
For the UK and Japan no data for full-time equivalents were available.

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24
The difference between labour input in terms of persons employed and labour input in full-
time equivalents needs to be kept in mind also when looking at the development of labour
productivity. As suggested by the data in the upper panel of Table 1.7, which uses the number
of persons employed as the labour input measure, in the longer term labour productivity
growth in Germany differs little from that observed in the other large continental EU
countries. In other words, the employment intensity of output growth in Germany has
developed similarly to that of France and Italy. Particularly, a distinct slowdown in
productivity growth is witnessed in the 1990s, although as a consequence of the re-unification
boom in Germany this occurred only with a lag.
However, the picture changes considerably if full-time equivalents are used as a labour input
measure. In this case, as shown by the lower panel of Table 1.7, labour productivity growth in
Germany in the second half of the 1990s continues to lie at some 2%, i.e. around its longer-
term value and much higher than in the other large continental countries. This suggests that,
in contrast to France or Italy, there are little indications that during the 1990s a significant
change in the longer-term relationship between employment and output growth had taken
place in Germany.