Status: 10/17/2022 10:42 a.m
The industry is struggling with high energy costs and ongoing supply bottlenecks. Nevertheless, the number of employees is growing: according to preliminary figures from the Federal Statistical Office, for the eighth month in a row.
Despite the burden of rising energy prices and an impending recession, German industry continues to hire new employees. At the end of August, around 5.5 million people were employed in manufacturing companies with at least 50 employees. That was 53,500 or one percent more than a year earlier, as the Federal Statistical Office announced today. “This means that the number of employees has grown for the eighth time in a row,” it said. There was also an increase compared to the previous month of July, namely by 24,200 or 0.4 percent.
In the individual industrial sectors, however, the development is very different. The number of employees in the manufacturers of data processing devices, electronic and optical products (+4.1 percent) and electrical equipment (+3.9 percent) again rose at a rate well above average.
Decline in the automotive sector
The growth in metal production and processing was significantly lower at 1.3 percent. The increase of 0.9 percent was also below average for the manufacturers of food and animal feed as well as in mechanical engineering. The number of employees at manufacturers of motor vehicles and motor vehicle parts even fell by 0.8 percent.
Backlog of orders in the industry
The industrial sector is currently sitting on a record high order mountain. In July, the order backlog reached its highest level since 2015. The statisticians cited high energy costs and ongoing supply bottlenecks as the reasons for this. They made sure that the orders could only be processed slowly.
Difficult months lie ahead for the industry. In August, new business shrank at a rate not seen since the start of the Russian war against Ukraine. German industry took slightly fewer new orders in July. New orders fell by 1.1 percent. Sales even fell by 1.8 percent. “The great uncertainty in the energy supply puts a strain on companies, the investment climate and the demand for industrial goods,” complained the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK).
The hours worked in manufacturing in August increased by 6.3 percent year-on-year to 654 million hours. However, August counted one more working day this time. Compensation for employees was around 23.8 billion euros, an increase of 3.6 percent.