FRANKFURT: The ongoing economic crisis has cost German industry more than 100,000 jobs within a year, with the country’s key automotive sector hit the hardest, according to an analysis by auditing and consulting firm EY shared with German Press Agency (dpa).
In the auto sector, around 45,400 jobs were cut on a net basis.
By the end of the first quarter, German industry employed 5.46 million people – 1.8 per cent or 101,000 fewer than a year earlier, according to the study, which is based on data from the Federal Statistical Office.
Since the pre-coronavirus year of 2019, the number of employees has fallen by a total of 217,000, a decline of 3.8 per cent. In 2018, the industry had reached a record high of around 5.7 million employees.
Industrial companies are under immense pressure, said Jan Brorhilker, managing partner at EY. “Aggressive competitors, particularly from China, are driving down prices, key sales markets are weakening, demand in Europe is stagnating at a low level, and there is significant uncertainty surrounding the entire US market. At the same time, companies are struggling with high costs – for energy and personnel, for example.”
There is no end to the job cuts in sight, Brorhilker said. Revenue from German industry has continued to decline slightly after a slump at the beginning of 2024.
Brorhilker expects at least 70,000 more industrial jobs to be lost by the end of the year. Companies, particularly in mechanical and automotive engineering, have initiated cost-cutting programmes.
“We will continue to hear a lot of bad news for the time being before things start to improve again.”
