Status: 08/17/2021 1:27 p.m.
According to Gesamtmetall President Stefan Wolf, more than 200,000 jobs in his industry have been lost since 2019. Currently, supply bottlenecks in particular are increasingly bothering companies.
The employers’ association Gesamtmetall sees a decline in employment in its companies. “Since the recession of 2019, more than 200,000 jobs in the metal and electronics industry have already been lost,” said Gesamtmetall President Stefan Wolf to the newspapers of the Funke media group. This year, too, the decline will continue in a weaker form. Wolf cites the corona pandemic and the change to more climate protection as reasons.
In the automotive industry in particular, many experts expect job losses as a result of the switch to electromobility – for example when suppliers produce fewer and fewer components for vehicles with combustion engines. However, the increasing demand for green technologies is also seen as an opportunity for employment in industry.
A lack of material slows down production
The employers’ association also published the production figures for the second quarter today. The output fell in the spring by 1.5 percent compared to the previous quarter. This meant that the recovery had stalled for the time being. While the global demand for metal and electrical products continues to grow noticeably, missing parts and material shortages are slowing production, the association announced.
“Around 75 percent of M + E companies stated in July that they were being hampered by a shortage of materials in production,” said Gesamtmetall chief economist Michael Stahl. The decline in production mainly affects vehicle construction with minus 9.5 percent. In mechanical engineering too, production remained below the level of the first quarter at minus 1.3 percent.
“We are assuming that the shortage of materials and thus the production disabilities will continue into the second half of the year,” said Stahl.
“Climate neutral by 2050”
Gesamtmetall President Wolf also spoke about the flood disaster in Germany and the forest fires in southern Europe in an interview with Funke-Medien. “Anyone who still believes that there is no climate change is out of this world,” said Wolf. It will take some time before the metal and electronics industry is climate-neutral. “We can become climate neutral between 2040 and 2050. I do not consider an earlier point in time to be realistic.”
The Gesamtmetall President does not believe in a combustion ban from 2030: “We in Germany have to develop environmentally friendly technologies that we can export to countries with much higher CO2 emissions. If we can earn good money with the combustion engine for another 20 years, and that money Invest in research and development in environmentally friendly technologies, then we will go further than bans. “
Retire at 70?
The association president spoke out in favor of an open debate about a longer working life. “We have to be honest with people: we will not be able to keep the retirement age at 67 years.” In the next few years we will have to talk about a retirement age of 69 to 70 years. Wolf warned of a financing problem with the pension funds.
The public discussion has been going on for several weeks. Experts advising the Ministry of Economic Affairs suggested an increase to 68 years in a report. There is currently a gradual increase in the entry age to 67. The background to the debate is the aging of society: In the long run, too many recipients of pensions are compared to too few contributors.