More than half a million people in Germany work in the call center industry - in one of the 6,700 call centers of the country. This is one of the results of a new survey recently presented by "Call Center Forum" one of Germany's call center associations.

The study, which was conducted by the consultants of profitel, shows that personnel has been growing steadily compared with numbers of 2006 where about 400,000 people worked in the industry. The number of call centers has increased by about 17 percent compared with 2006.

Less Outbound
80 percent of call centers are so-called inhouse call centers meaning they are part of a company or an organization. Call Centers that only provide outbound calling have become rare (2009: 10 percent, 2006: 30 percent). 60 percent of German call centers are mere inbound centers, 30 percent offer both.

Most contact centers are located in North-Rhine-Westphalia - the "Bundesland" with the highest poplulation. About 80 percent of call centers are based in the Western part of the country, 20 percent in the former “German Democratic Republic".

Source : Call Center International Magazine