Consumer prices up by 3 percent in May 29. May 2008 by Thomas Jannot The sharp rise in consumer prices continued in May. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the consumer price index for Germany was up by 3.0% in May 2008 as compared to May last year. In April this year, the annual increase had been at 2.4%. In comparison with April 2008 consumer prices rose by 0.6%. …
From autumn onwards there will be 10 new and modernized kinds of professional training in Germany 27. May 2008 by Thomas Jannot At the beginning of the educational year 2008 seven new vocational training courses will be introduced and three modernized from August 1st. Thus, the Federal Institute for Vocational Training (BIBB) continues its modernization of the vocational dual system in Germany. Over the past twelve months the BIBB has introduced 79 new professions and modernized 215.
16.7 million Euro in grants for SMEs in Lower Saxony 27. May 2008 by Thomas Jannot Over the next years Lower Saxony will sponsor the further training and qualification of small and medium-sized entities (SMEs) by 16.7 million Euros. The funds for this come from the European Fund for Regional Development. The fund is to level economic and social development differences among the regions of the European Union.
New software protects from illness at the workplace 27. May 2008 by Thomas Jannot The Institute for Labour Science at the Darmstadt University (IAD) in co-operation with the Institute for ergonomics and design at the Technical University in Essen has developed a software by which users are able to detect health hazards in their work place. But the software is able to do even more: it gives an assessment …
In future shareholders may use their voting rights online 23. May 2008 by Thomas Jannot Thanks to a new bill by the Federal Ministry of Justice, shareholders may in future take part online over the internet in general meetings, ask questions and vote in real-time mode. In return, the calling of the general meeting, its agenda and all petitions do not have to be published in paper any more. It …
Sharp increase in number of news portal users 22. May 2008 by Thomas Jannot New portals on the internet are very popular and their visitors´ number hit a new record high in the first quarter 2008: the twenty most popular news portals were visited in total 1.2 billion times over this period. This corresponds to an increase by 33% in comparison with last year. The afore-mentioned figures are from …
Germany remains export world champion in 2008 22. May 2008 by Thomas Jannot It is very likely that Germany will remain the world’s most important exporting country in 2008. China, on the other hand, will drop back to the third position. This was reported yesterday by the Federal Agency for Foreign Trade (bfai). Despite smaller growth in exports during the month of March, German exports nevertheless grew by …
Germany ranks 8th in terms of broad band internet access 21. May 2008 by Thomas Jannot Germany is catching up with regard to the number of households having broad band internet access. In the meantime fifty percent of all households are equipped with such fast internet access. Thus, the number of households having broad band internet access has quadrupled since the year 2003. According to the German Association for Information Management, …
In 2007 online turnover in foodstuffs down for the first time 19. May 2008 by Thomas Jannot According to the German Association for Information Management, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM) the e-business in foodstuffs and beverages shrank slightly for the first time last year with turnover falling by 3% to 119 million Euros. In previous years turnover in this sector had grown at sometimes two-digit rates as is demonstrated by figures provided …
2.8 percent more employees in processing industry 19. May 2008 by Thomas Jannot The number of people working in the processing industry continued increasing in March. It rose by 147.500 to 5.3 million as compared to March 2007 which is a plus by 2.8%, as was reported by the Federal Statistical Office. Most jobs were created in mechanical engineering.