Occupation and employment status are different.
Someone may be employed as a cook, technician or administrative worker. Despite their different tasks, each has an employer. A public authority can also employ people; paid work is not confined to private companies.
Destatis’s annual figures for 2025 distinguish employees from self-employed people and confirm the large difference between the groups. The question does not require an exact number, only the description that fits the majority.
The other three answers
Notice whether an answer describes the majority or only a smaller category.
employed in small family businesses.
Small family businesses can also be employers. This answer narrows all employment to that particular type of business, so it does not describe the majority sought.
volunteering for a federal state.
Voluntary service does not describe most people in employment. Volunteering and paid employment may coexist, but they are not the same thing.
self-employed with their own company.
Self-employed people with their own businesses form part of the employed population. They are not the largest group, so this claim about the majority is wrong.
Employment includes more than full-time jobs.
Part-time work also counts as employment. Self-employed people belong to the broader category too. “People in employment” and “employees” are therefore not interchangeable terms.
The sizes of the groups change. This guide explains a statistically supported majority, not a guarantee about every business or region. The source identifies its reporting period.
Employment · Federal Statistical Office ↗People in work overall → predominantly employees.
Distinguish the employment relationship from the kind of work and size of business.
Three words for this question
- erwerbstätigin employment
- Economically active through work, including self-employment.
- der Arbeitgeberemployer
- A business or public body that employs people.
- selbstständigself-employed
- Working in one’s own economic activity.