Beschäftigten

Beschäftigte is a German noun used to refer to people who are employed or working. In economics and labor market analysis, the term designates those who are currently employed, as opposed to unemployed or inactive persons. It covers workers across sectors such as industry, services, and public administration. The plural form is typically written as Beschäftigte, and the singular forms are der Beschäftigte (masculine) or die Beschäftigte (feminine). In different grammatical cases, you will encounter der Beschäftigten (genitive singular or plural), den Beschäftigten (dative plural), and die Beschäftigten (nominative and accusative plural). In everyday usage, phrases like unter den Beschäftigten or Beschäftigte im Jahr 2023 are common.

In statistics, Beschäftigte serve as the key category for measuring employment levels, labor force participation, and changes in the workforce over time. The term often appears in reports alongside Arbeitslose (unemployed) and Erwerbspersonen (economic-active persons).

Beschäftigten can also appear in compound contexts, such as sector-specific employment counts or demographic breakdowns by age, gender, or qualification. It is closely related to but distinct from similar terms like Angestellte (often referring to white-collar employees) and Arbeitskräfte (labor force or manpower).

As a verb form, beschäftigt is the past participle of beschäf tigen, and the word beschäf tigten is the simple past tense (Präteritum) form for third-person plural or first-person plural: Die Firmen beschäftigten viele Mitarbeitende. The present perfect uses beschäftigt (haben beschäftigt).