Status: 08/12/2021 1:58 p.m.
With the end of the pandemic, entrepreneurial daring is stirring: In the first half of the year, thousands of larger companies were founded in Germany – more than before the Corona crisis.
In the first half of 2021, a good 65,600 companies were founded in Germany whose legal form and number of employees suggest greater economic importance, according to the Federal Statistical Office.
That was 13.1 percent more start-ups than in the first half of 2020, which was severely affected by the first corona lockdown. The latest increase in start-ups has “mainly to do with the low level of the same period last year,” explained the Federal Office. It is noteworthy, however, that there was also an increase compared to the pre-crisis level. The number of start-ups was 2.5 percent higher than in the first half of 2019.
Fewer small, more micro-businesses
The picture is more differentiated among the smaller companies. The number of newly founded small businesses from January to June was around 67,400, 1.0 percent below the level a year earlier. Compared to the first half of 2019, there was even a drop of 21.9 percent.
The corona pandemic, on the other hand, has induced more people to register so-called part-time businesses. Their number was around 176,500 in the first half of the year, an increase of 26 percent compared to the previous year. In this area, postal, courier and express services stand out with a 100 percent plus and furniture production with an 84.5 percent increase.
Less business tasks
The government pandemic aid, on the other hand, is likely to have ensured that fewer people had to give up their company. In the first half of the year, around 201,000 businesses were completely deregistered, one percent less than a year earlier. Compared to 2019, the number was even 18.3 percent lower. Regarding this decline, the statisticians stated that the state support measures are intended to “mitigate the economic consequences of the pandemic for traders and prevent businesses from closing down”.