MittelstandsWiki

In the first quarter of 2007 just about 42.400 companies were set up of which the legal form and number of employees indicate major economic importance. This figure corresponds to a 5.9% decrease as compared to the first quarter of 2006. On the other hand, the number of second employment businesses rose by 62.000 or 7.5% as compared to the same month in 2006. +++

According to the Federal Statistical Office the import price index was up by 0.6% in May 2007 as compared to the same month in 2006. Compared to April 2007 the index rose by 0.3%.
In May 2007, as was already the case in previous months, the annual inflation rate for non-ferrous metals and semi-finished products thereof was particularly high (+9.3%). +++

Private auctions and small advertisements on the internet are as popular as never before. In the year 2006 there were 12 million Germans aged between 16 and 74 years who used the internet in order to sell goods or services. Thus, one in five people of this age bracket is an online-seller. Compared to previous years there was a strong increase in this context. In the year 2004 the number of online-sellers amounted to just 9 million (14%) in Germany. The German Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM) forecasts at least 13 million private online sellers for 2007. +++

According to the Institute of the Cologne-based Institute for the German Economy (IW), the Danish Flexicurity model which combines little protection against dismissal with generous unemployment benefits can not be easily applied to Germany the reason being that in Denmark for a long time there has been a completely different wellfare-state model in which there are only small income differences. +++