BERLIN, June 11 (Xinhua) -- In the first quarter of 2019, turnover in the craft trades in Germany rose by 6.4 percent compared with the first quarter of 2018, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) announced on Tuesday.
According to Destatis, six of the seven sectors of crafts which are required to be registered generated higher sales in the first quarter of 2019 than in the first quarter of 2018.
The largest increase in turnover was generated by the main construction sector with 14 percent, followed by secondary construction services such plumbing, electrics and paint jobs and the healthcare trade, Destatis reported.
Sales in the food producing industry were down 0.3 percent compared with the same quarter of the previous year.
Destatis further announced on Tuesday that 0.7 percent more people were employed in German craft trades at the end of March 2019 than one year before.
Recently, the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (ZDH) reported in its economic report that the German companies were "assessing their current business situation and sales development better than ever before in the first quarter".
"The economic engine in the skilled trades will continue to run at full speed in spring 2019", said Holger Schwannecke, head of the ZDH.
According to the ZDH, despite the "signs of a slowdown in the German economy", it is not to be expected "that the economic engine in the skilled trades will come to a standstill".
For the current year 2019, the ZDH expects an increase in sales of up to 4 percent.
