In Germany 94% of all businesses are looking for new employees on the internet. Particularly popular among businesses are online job markets such as Stepstone, Jobscout or Monster which are used by 59% of all businesses. Half of all businesses publish job ads on their homepages. One quarter places the ads in specialized online job markets used by certain lines of industry or professional groups. This is the finding of a survey carried out by BITKOM. more…

German companies are investing in the know-how of their employees. As was found out in the course of a study carried out by the Institute for the German Economy (IW) in Cologne on further training in Germany, almost 84% of all German businesses provided further professional training to their employees in the year 2007. Among businesses with at least 250 employees this percentage amounted to 96%. In total, German businesses invested about 27 billion Euros in further training. more…

According to the Federal Statistical Office, consumer prices increased by just 0.9% in January this year as compared to January last year. Prices even fell by 0.5% on December 2008. The smaller inflation rate is in particular due to smaller increases in prices for fuels and heating oil. more…

Today when the Chinese prime minister, Wen Jiabao, arrives for a state visit in Germany, this event will not only be of political, but in particular of economic importance. Even though Germany is still importing more goods from China than it exports to this country, the export volume to China is growing much faster than imports. On a dollar basis, Germany exported goods to the value of 1,376 billion over the first eleven months of the year 2008 while China’s exports to the world amounted to 1,317 billion US dollars. Thus, Germany was once more the world’s leading exporting country ahead of China. more…

Germans do not behave in a very patriotic manner when it comes to shopping. According to the German Association for research on consumption (GfK) in Nuremberg, only thirty percent of Germans prefer German products when shopping. This varies according to the age of respondents. In the age group of people between 60 and 69 years about 40% prefer products produced in Germany. Among those aged above 70 this figure amounts to 50 percent. Among those aged between 20 and 29 years just 25% of respondents attach importance to the goods being manufactured in Germany. more…

According to the German Association for Information Management, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM), turnover generated through IT and business process outsourcing is expected to increase by 7.2% to 14.6 billion Euros in Germany. more…

In November 2008 the German construction industry suffered a major drop in incoming orders. The number of orders received by businesses employing at least 20 people fell by 17.4% in real terms as compared to November 2007. In the field of structural engineering, demand fell by 2.0% and in civil engineering by 30.1%. Comparing the periods from January to November 2008 with the same period in 2007, the number of incoming orders decreased by 3.8%. Currently, an improvement of this situation in not in sight. more…

In the year 2008 shortfalls in payment increased dramatically and will continue to do so, according to Coface Germany, which is a consulting firm specialized in business claims. As a consequence of this global development, Coface recently lowered its ratings of 22 countries, among these countries such as China and Russia. In total, shortfalls in payment between companies increased by 47% worldwide, said Coface. more…

In the year 2008 the number of press outlets in Germany reached a new record high. There were 120,000 print press outlets in Germany last year, in particular news-stalls and outlets in supermarkets. more…

According to a study by the Psychonomics market research institute, the German brand „Nivea“ and the internet brand „Google“ were among the most popular brands in Germany in the year 2008. In the course of this study most popular brands were defined in eight important lines of industry. The respective findings were based on about 250.000 interviews. more…