The number of Germans in work rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.1 per cent in the first quarter of this year compared with the previous three months.
The slight gain shown in preliminary data matched the 0.1 per cent quarterly increase in the October through December period, the Federal Statistics Office said.
On an unadjusted basis, employment gained 0.5 per cent in the first quarter, a slight slowdown from the fourth quarter's 0.6 per cent rate of increase, which the office attributed to poor weather in February and March.
"The increase in the numbers in work was mainly powered by an expansion of self-employment," the office said.
The number of self-employed workers, including family members that helped them, rose by 4.9 per cent, or 201,000 in the first quarter compared with the same quarter a year earlier to 4.3 million, the data showed.
