German industry boosted its turnover in the first two months of 2005 by 3.7 per cent while employment dropped by 1.3 per cent, the government reported Thursday. The Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden said the manufacturing and mining sector achieved nearly 220.52 billion euros (283.9 billion dollars) in turnover in January and February. Of that, domestic turnover came to 131.2 billion euros, up 1.9 per cent on the first two months of 2004. Foreign turnover gained 6.5 per cent to 89.3 billion euros, the office said. While improving turnover volume, the sector employed 5.94 million persons, down 1.3 per cent on the first two months last year. Working hours fell 0.9 per cent, while wages and salaries paid to the employees were 0.6 per cent lower year-on-year, the figures showed. In February by itself, turnover in manufacturing and mining was 2.1 per cent higher at nearly 112.1 billion euros, while payrolls were down by 1.4 per cent at 5.93 million employees. Among individual branches, metalworking turnover in February was 12.1 per cent higher year-on-year, recycling was up 11.9 per cent and data processing equipment turnover was 11.4 per cent stronger.
