Business Climate for Germany’s Self-Employed Continues to Recover
The business climate for Germany’s self-employed continued to recover at the beginning of the year. In January, the index for this segment (“Jimdo-ifo Business Climate Index for the Self-Employed”) rose to minus 7.3 points (not seasonally adjusted), up from minus 11.4 points (not seasonally adjusted) in December. “While pessimism is dwindling, it’s still too early to talk about a noticeable improvement for the self-employed,” says Klaus Wohlrabe, Head of Surveys at ifo.
Expectations for the months ahead brightened appreciably again. By contrast, there was little movement in the assessment of the current business situation compared to the previous month: positive and negative responses are roughly in balance.
The situation remains the most difficult for the self-employed in retail, where economic recovery will be long in coming.
At present, 14.3 percent of the self-employed consider their economic survival threatened. In December, that figure was 16.7 percent. For the economy as a whole, however, the figure was significantly lower at 4.8 percent.
The ifo Institute has been publishing the Jimdo-ifo Business Climate Index for the Self-Employed since August 2021. This includes both solo self-employed people and microenterprises (with fewer than nine employees). As in the composite index, all sectors of the economy are taken into account. However, its main focus is the service sector. The index is based on a collaboration with Jimdo, a provider of online tools specially geared toward the solo self-employed and small businesses, and aims to improve the visibility of microenterprises. In addition to Jimdo, VGSD e.V. – Germany’s association of founders and self-employed people – is also helping to attract new participants.
