In Germany, nearly 190,000 businesses were forced to close last year amid bleak economic prospects, high energy and labour costs, and a shortage of skilled workers.
“The German automotive industry has been particularly affected. Over the course of a year, the sector lost 42,300 jobs, bringing employment to its lowest level since 2005, with 691,500 employees. Never before have so few people been employed in Germany’s automotive industry. The crisis is hitting auto parts manufacturers particularly hard, where employment fell by 7.6% in a single year,” the ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research in Mannheim said.
France was not far behind in terms of business failures. According to data published by Banque de France, around 70,800 companies were subject to insolvency proceedings over the course of a year.
According to the research institute, insolvency was not the main reason for business closures. The study found that insolvency proceedings were initiated against only one in eight companies that closed.
At the same time, growth was recorded in the hotel, hospitality and healthcare sectors. Over the course of a year, hotel and hospitality capacity increased by 15%, while the healthcare sector grew by 12%.
