In businesses of the German processing industry which employ at least 50 people job cutting continues. At the end of April these businesses employed 5.1 million people which is 86,000 or 1.7% less than in April last year. Most affected were manufacturers of rubber and synthetic materials. In mechanical engineering, on the other hand, the number of employees remained almost unchanged.
The number of hours worked fell by 16.8% to 612 million as compared to April last year (there were two working days less in April this year though). Gross wages and salaries amounted to 17.1 billion Euros which was 7.9% less than in April last year.
With regard to the most important economic sectors, there was growth in employment in the food and fodder industry (+1.9 %) and mechanical engineering (+0.1 %). Manufacturers of electrical equipment, motor vehicles and vehicle components, however, reduced their staff by -1.1 % and -2.4 % respectively as well as producers of metal products (– 2.5 %) and rubber and synthetic materials (-3.0 %). 