Germany: civilian workforce by gender and foreign workers 1939-1944

In late May 1939, just three months before the Second World War began in Europe, Germany's workforce was made up of almost 25 million men, 15 million women, and a very small number of foreign workers. The share of German men in the workforce decreased each year thereafter, as more were conscripted into the armed forces, and there were approximately 11 million fewer German male citizens in the workforce by September 1944. The number of German women fluctuated, but remained between 14 and 15 million throughout the given period, and it exceeded the number of German men in 1944. Despite the number of German men in the workforce dropping by 45 percent, the total number of workers in German was consistently around 36 million between 1940 and 1944, as this difference was offset by foreign and forced laborers. These workers were mostly drafted from annexed territories in Eastern Europe, and prisoners were transferred from concentration and POW camps to meet the labor demands in various areas of Germany.