Employment by economic sector in Germany 2009-2019

The service sector continues to employ the largest share of workers in Germany, with around 71 percent of employees working in the sector in 2019. In recent years, the distribution of workers has slowly shifted away from the industry and agriculture sectors.

Urbanization and the service economy

Big cities continue to be the focal point for the service sector, which includes the fields of health, education, finance, telecommunications, and tourism. More than three-quarters of the German population live in urbanized areas, and this growing urbanization is helping the service sector to flourish. Subsequently, as fewer people live in rural areas, the agriculture sector continues to employ a smaller percentage of the workforce each year.

A marker of industrialization

Rising revenues from the IT services sector is likely to be another reason for the growing service sector and has increased business confidence in Germany. The gross domestic product of Germany has shown strong signs of recovery following a few years of fluctuation caused by the 2008 financial crisis.