The German industrial sector is experiencing a growing loss of jobs amid the economic crisis. In the automotive sector alone, a net loss of about 51,500 jobs was recorded last year—approximately 7% of the sector’s total jobs—according to an analysis by the economic consulting firm Ernst & Young. The analysis, reviewed by the German Press Agency, shows that no other industrial sector has been hit as hard in terms of job losses. The total number of workers in the industrial sector as of June 30 last year was 5.42 million, down 2.1% compared to the previous year, meaning about 114,000 employees were laid off within one year, based on data from the Federal Statistical Office. Since 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of employees has dropped by about 245,000, or 4.3% of the workforce. Meanwhile, industrial sector revenues fell by 2.1% in the second quarter, marking the eighth consecutive decline.

Except for the electronics industry, all sectors recorded decreases. In the automotive sector, suffering from sluggish sales, competition from China, and costs related to the transition to electric mobility, revenues declined by 1.6%. The German industry is not only struggling with rising energy prices, bureaucracy, and weak domestic demand but also with tariff disputes with the United States. Jan Brörhelker, managing partner at Ernst & Young, said, “The massive drop in exports to the United States has severely impacted German industry recently.” High tariffs imposed by Donald Trump increased the cost of German products in the US, despite the EU’s desire to retroactively reduce car tariffs. German exports to China also declined due to fierce competition faced by German car manufacturers in the Far East.

Brörhelker added, “Huge profit declines, excess production capacity, and weak foreign markets make large-scale job cuts inevitable, especially in Germany, where management, administration, and R&D jobs are concentrated.” Job cuts were not limited to the automotive sector; about 17,000 jobs were cut in the machinery manufacturing sector and nearly 12,000 in metal production, while almost no jobs were cut in the chemical and pharmaceutical sectors.