By the end of August 2007 there were 5.3 million people employed by companies (at least 50 employees) in the goods producing industry. According to the Federal Statistical Office this corresponds to an increase by about 99.600 people or 1.9% as compared to August 2006. The number of hours worked amounted to 667 million in August thereby exceeding july´s number by 3.2%. Gross salaries and wages totalled 17.1 billion Euros (4.3% more than last year). +++

Traditional advertising is the top profit source for German advertising agencies. 80% of advertising agencies organised in the Association of German communication agencies (GWA) did most investments in digital communication in the year 2006. However, the GWA slightly corrects its spring forecast downwards now expecting a growth of 4.2% in terms of turnover for the advertising industry in the financial year 2007. +++

Nowadays small and medium-sized companies have to compete internationally and to prepare for this. In particular the countries of the former eastern block provide plenty of opportunities in this respect. A research group from Bamberg is developping certain concepts for personnel training programmes in the new EU member states Bulgaria, Rumania and the would-be member Croatia. +++

According to preliminary figures by the Federal Statistical Office hotels with at least nine beds as well as camping sites in Germany registered a total of 44.6 million overnight stays in August this year. Compared to August 2006 this corresponds to an increase by 3%. Compared to July this year the number of overnight stays did not change. +++

Over the next 15 years the major challenge to companies will be to adapt to the needs of senior employees. Support provided by companies to senior employees is, however, something still quite rare as was demonstrated by a study conducted by the Institute for labour market and professional research (IAB). In the meantime, the frequency of supporting measures for older employees even slightly declined between 2002 and 2006: The percentage of companies offering such measures to senior employees fell from 19% to 17% in the period from 2002 to 2006. The number of employees aged between 55 and 64 is expected to increase by 40% by the year 2020. +++