JD- Germany's metals and electrical industry is bracing for significant job losses, potentially reaching 150,000 this year, as it grapples with high energy costs, taxes, and bureaucracy.
Oliver Zander, Executive Director of the employers' association Gesamtmetall, described the situation as the sector's "biggest crisis since the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany." He warned of an ongoing industrial decline with a bleak outlook.
Zander, echoing concerns of other business associations, pinpointed high costs as the primary driver of the crisis. He highlighted Germany's excessively high energy costs, corporate taxes, and social contributions, compounded by bureaucratic hurdles.
He criticized the lack of a systematic approach to reducing bureaucracy, stating that efforts to combat animal epidemics were more organized than those aimed at streamlining administrative processes. Zander emphasized the need to reduce the number of civil servants, arguing that bloated public administrations were straining budgets.
Zander revealed that the sector has been in a recession for two years, with 270,000 jobs already lost since 2018. The number of employees in the industry has fallen below 3.8 million, a level not seen since 2015.
While Gesamtmetall previously reported a surge in orders in the final quarter of last year driven by the defense sector, it cautioned that underlying demand, excluding state-funded arms orders, remained weak.
