Business Climate for Solo Self-Employed Persons and Microenterprises in Germany Turns Even More Negative
The business climate for microenterprises and solo self-employed persons deteriorated in December. These are the findings of the latest index for this segment (“Jimdo-ifo Business Climate Index”). This index fell to minus 7.7 points (not seasonally adjusted) in December, down from minus 6.4 points in November. This is significantly below the overall economy, which is at plus 7.0 points. “Microenterprises are suffering particularly badly as a result of the way the pandemic is currently developing,” says Klaus Wohlrabe, Head of Surveys at ifo.
Assessments of the current situation in particular turned markedly worse. Pessimism regarding the coming months, however, decreased somewhat.
Some 25 percent of German microenterprises and solo self-employed persons currently feel their survival is threatened. This is a significantly higher share than for the economy as a whole, where the figure is 14 percent. “Many small businesses are in the position that the longer the pandemic lasts, the harder economic survival becomes,” Wohlrabe adds.
The ifo Institute has been publishing the Jimdo-ifo Business Climate Index for solo self-employed persons and microenterprises (fewer than nine employees) since August 2021. In December, the index was based on responses from around 1300 companies. As in the composite index, all sectors of the economy are taken into account. However, its main focus is the services sector. The recruitment of new participants is done in cooperation with Jimdo, a provider of online tools specifically for solo self-employed and small businesses.
