Employment expectations: Survey: Four out of ten companies are planning job cuts in 2025

Many companies in Germany want to cut jobs in the coming year. According to a survey by the employer-related German Economic Institute (IW), four out of ten companies are planning to cut staff. Only 17 percent intend to hire employees. The survey is part of a study for which more than 2,000 companies were surveyed in November.

“The employment prospects are worse than they have been since the global financial crisis in 2009,” said IW study author and economic expert Michael Grömling. 2024 was not a good year for the German economy, and this is now also noticeable on the labor market. The outlook in industry is particularly bleak. Only 14 percent of companies want to hire, 44 percent want to cut staff.

According to Grömling, the main reason for this is the economic crisis and the poor business situation of many companies. Only 16 percent stated in the survey that the economic situation was better than in the previous year. Half see things getting worse. Many companies are pessimistic about the future. This is also reflected in the plans. Almost a quarter of companies want to invest more in 2025 than this year, while 40 percent want to invest less.