More than 40 million gainfully employed people in November 4. January 2008 by Thomas Jannot Over the last months of 2007 the number of gainfully employed people developed particularly positively: in November the number of Germans having a job exceeded 40 million the third month in a row. In November 2007 the Federal Statistical Office registered about 40.29 million gainfully employed people which is 627.000 or +1.6% more than in …
High energy cost lead to German saving record 4. January 2008 by Thomas Jannot Price hikes for energy force Germans to save. 73% of Germans interviewed by the Forsa polling firm said that they wanted to save on energy in 2008 whereas in 2007 this percentage was just 69%. Back in 2006 it was even as low as 56%.
Majority of Christian democrats want minimum wages 4. January 2008 by Thomas Jannot An overwhelming majority of Germans is for the introduction of statutory minimum wages. In a survey 71% of respondents said that they were in favour of them. Just 25% are against. Even 59% of voters for the Christian democrats advocated statutory minimum wages. At least these are the findings which were discovered by the forsa …
One third of Germans still possess Deutschmarks 3. January 2008 by Thomas Jannot A survey conducted by the Hamburg based stern magazine revealed that six years after the introduction of the Euro one third of Germans still possess bank notes or coins of the former Deutschmark. 53% of respondents said that they possessed less than 20 Deutschmarks each. 22% still have between 20 and 50 D-marks. 12% still …
Two thirds work with computers 3. January 2008 by Thomas Jannot An ever growing number of people use computers at work. In Germany the percentage of people using computers in the workplace increased from 56% (2006) to 61% (2007). The German Association for Information Management, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM) thinks that this is a good sign given that the use of computers enhances productivity and …
Happy New Year! 31. December 2007 by Thomas Jannot The last invoices are written. The financial accounts can now be closed. We already informed our readers about how the MittelstandsWiki and its journals fared in 2007 and we will tell our readers about our plans for 2008 over the days to come. But we can assure you right now that MittelstandsWiki will take part …
One out of three companies not prepared for tax reform 31. December 2007 by Thomas Jannot Even though a corporate tax reform will take effect shortly, one third of German small and medium-sized entities (SMEs) are not adequately prepared. Important changes such as a decreased tax burden or changes with regard to depreciation are unknown. This finding was revealed through an online survey in which about 1000 SMEs participated over the …
German companies allegedly little environmentally aware 29. December 2007 by Thomas Jannot The findings of a study conducted by Easynet und TNS Infratest claim that environmental protection is not among the top priorities of German companies. In the course of the study about 4500 employees from all parts of Europe were interviewed on the most important business objectives of their employers. Thus, in a ranking listing eight …
Economic upswing to boost labour market in 2008 29. December 2007 by Thomas Jannot Several industrial sectors in Germany are quite optimistic for 2008. According to Prof. Michael Hüther, who is director of the Institute for the German Economy (IW) in Cologne, the findings of a recent study demonstrate that Germany is still benefiting from a flourishing world economy and from domestic demand. German trade associations are still in …
Economic freedom insufficient in Berlin 29. December 2007 by Thomas Jannot The Liberale Institut der Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit recently presented the new edition of a study entitled “Economic freedom in Germany“. In this study which is based on the international “Economic Freedom of the World” comparative study the authors measure the extent of economic freedom enjoyed by German citizens. Criteria are among others the economic …