Germany’s BMW reports a drop in employment of 35 percent year on year in Q2, with the car sales branch even dropping by 60 percent. The only net profit making branch was the financial services branch of the company. Management’s all purpose “solution” is reducing the workforce by 5,000.
Germany’s business weekly Wirtschaftswoche writes that the official figures on job losses are only part of the picture as employees who leave due to retirement or other reasons are not replaced. This has been a trend since at least 2019, but retirements are not reflected in official unemployment statistics. In total, the automobile sector has 13-percent fewer people employed today than in 2019. At present, employment is about 700,000.
