MittelstandsWiki

The number of apprenticeship contract fell significantly in the year 2008. According to preliminary calculations by the Federal Statistical Office, in the year 2008 about 610,800 new apprenticeship contracts were closed in Germany which were 2.1% or 13,100 contracts less than in the year 2007. In particular in the east of Germany and Berlin the number of new apprenticeship contracts fell significantly. +++

The prime cost index for industrial goods was down by 0.5% as compared to March 2008 which is the most significant change since September 2002. In comparison with February 2009, the index fell by 0.7%. This reduction is mainly due to the development in prices for intermediate inputs for which prices fell by 3.9% as compared to March last year and by 0.9% as compared to February this year. +++

Only a small number of businesses have so far been denied, reduced or withdrawn loans by their banks. Therefore, according to researchers from the association on research on consumption (GfK), the feared credit problems have so far hardly emerged. In the course of a recent survey among 510 businesses it was revealed that a large majority of businesses has so far not suffered from the often invoked loan crisis. +++

According to the ifo institute, demand to the construction industry in Germany is going to grow by just 0.5% in real terms each year over the next ten years. The ifo experts believe that the current government programmes will not give significant new stimulus to the economy, given that demand for residential buildings but also for office buildings is expected to be permanently weak. Experts even think that the German construction industry is going to shrink this year given that all the government programmes are expected to show effect only from 2010. +++