Experts anticipate that companies will continue to be more willing to hire in the near future.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin The German economy is regaining its confidence, which is also reflected in companies’ personnel planning. The Ifo employment barometer has risen again after a small dip and is now at 100.2 points – after 99.6 points in the previous month. “The dwindling pessimism in the German economy is also reflected in the labor market,” says Ifo expert Klaus Wohlrabe.
The federal government now assumes that Germany will be spared a recession in the current year. Rather, in its annual economic report published on Wednesday, it expects economic output to grow – even if only by a meager 0.2 percent. The experts at Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) only expect the unemployment rate to rise slightly from 5.3 to 5.4 percent.
Accordingly, the companies are also more optimistic. The Ifo business climate index rose in January for the fourth month in a row. The order books in industry are still well filled. The willingness of companies in the manufacturing sector to hire rose particularly sharply in January compared with the previous month. “New employees are particularly sought after in mechanical engineering and the electrical industry,” says Wohlrabe.
The employment barometer is based on the personnel plans of around 9000 companies and is calculated monthly exclusively for the Handelsblatt.
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According to Wohlrabe, the service providers are primarily looking for IT experts. The layoffs at large IT companies are an opportunity for many small and medium-sized businesses to hire employees. The software group SAP wants to cut around 3,000 jobs, 200 of them in Germany.
According to the Ifo Institute, hiring and layoff plans are roughly balanced in retail. Despite the difficult environment, there are slightly positive employment expectations in the construction industry. Federal Building Minister Klara Geywitz (SPD) announced a new building subsidy program on Wednesday. Despite this, the federal government will probably miss its goal of building 400,000 new homes every year this year. The construction industry is suffering from higher interest rates and raw material prices.
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At an event organized by the IT association Bitkom on Wednesday, Habeck said that almost two million jobs in Germany could not currently be filled. IG Metall called for greater efforts on Thursday to maintain the skilled labor base through qualification and retraining in industrial change: “We need a real bang when it comes to support during change, and not hesitant action after the cash situation,” said union boss Jörg Hofmann.
Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil (SPD) had already presented the draft bill for a new further training law in mid-December, which, among other things, provides for a paid “educational period”. However, the plans do not go far enough for IG Metall. The government must also promote professional qualifications and not just adjustment qualifications, said Hofmann. In general, material security is important during further training.
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