Number of employees in the banking industry

Restructuring at German banks has led to a decline in jobs. The number of people employed in the banking industry fell by 72,000 between the end of 1999 and the end of 2004. This is a decrease of 9.3%. In the preceding decades, employment in the industry had risen steadily.

Table: Number of employees in the banking industry

Some of these staff cutbacks can be explained by the fact that many positions have been outsourced to companies outside the banking industry. This means that although the number of bank employees has decreased, some of the jobs themselves continue to exist - albeit in other sectors.

Just over half the cutbacks have taken place at the commercial banks, though this is also where most use has been made of outsourcing. The public sector (Landesbanks and savings banks) has also seen staff levels decline significantly (by more than 21,000). Just over 10,000 jobs have been lost at the credit co-operatives.

Despite the overall fall in the number of people employed in the banking industry, the average number of employees per bank has risen sharply. The credit co-operatives have seen the most striking rise in relative terms, though the average number of staff at these banks is far lower than in the other banking categories. At the other end of the scale are the Landesbanks, with an average of over 3,200 employees per bank.