Lowest Number of Start-Ups in Germany since German Reunification

In 2008, the number of start-ups in Germany decreased for the forth year in a row. A decline of about seven percent compared to the previous year resulted in only 206,000 start-ups. This is the lowest number of start-ups since the German reunification. The situation was the worst in the construction and trade sectors. Economic sectors like engineering and metrology and control engineering still had a positive development concerning the number of start-ups. These are the findings of a current evaluation by the Mannheim Enterprise Panel at the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim.

The considerable decrease of the number of start-ups in Germany in the last year basically is due to two developments. The increasing economic decline in 2008 significantly reduced the opportunity-based start-ups. These are mainly realised in a positive economy because it provides start-ups with better chances for success. There were no start-ups out of necessity in 2008. The crisis has first hit the labour market in 2009; therefore start-ups due to increasing unemployment had not been created yet.

Almost every economic sector has been hit by the decline of start-ups. In the manufacturing sector the number of start-ups decreased by ten percent. The reason for this mainly is the development in the construction sector which dominates the number of start-ups in the manufacturing sector. Compared to the previous year, there were 15 percent less start-ups in the construction sector in 2008. Among the largest economic sectors, the trade sector had the second largest decrease in the number of start-ups. In comparison, the decline of start-ups in the service sector is relatively low. Among the few sectors with a positive development of start-ups were engineering as well as metrology and control engineering.

For further information please contact

Daniel Höwer, Phone: +49/621/1235-187, E-mail: hoewer@zew.de