According to a survey, 25 percent of the companies surveyed are planning to cut jobs due to the energy crisis. Companies are reducing manufacturing or relocating production to areas where energy costs are lower. That is “fatal”. according to the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Family Businesses and Politics.

The energy crisis is increasingly becoming a threat to employment in Germany. In a survey commissioned by the Foundation for Family Businesses, 25 percent of companies said they were planning to cut jobs. In a comparable survey in April, this was 14 percent. In addition, 57 percent of companies are preparing to postpone planned investments. The representative survey by the Ifo Institute showed that there were more companies than in the spring.

According to the association, the survey took place between September 22nd and October 11th. 1060 companies took part, almost 900 of them family businesses. The survey is representative.

The results are an alarm signal, said Rainer Kirchdörfer, head of the Foundation for Family Businesses and Politics. For some time there has been a creeping relocation of industrial value creation. “This fatal development in Germany is accelerating. Companies are reducing production in Germany or relocating their production to places where energy costs, taxes and bureaucracy are lower.”

According to the survey, nine percent of companies are planning to relocate their business premises abroad. Half a year ago it was six percent. Politicians are trying to curb rising energy costs, which is right, said Kirchdörfer. “We need measures that make Germany competitive again as a business location.”

According to the association, energy costs are now having a greater impact on companies. In 2022, energy costs accounted for an average of 8.2 percent of total sales. In 2021 it was only 5.1 percent.

Due to an adjustment of the Federal Immission Control Act, many German stove owners have to react. If certain limit values ​​are not met, the furnaces must be converted or dismantled.

The traffic jam off the coast of Spain is getting longer and longer. More than 30 liquid gas ships are now waiting to be unloaded. Experts are already warning that freighters will be looking for alternatives outside of Europe.