ifo Dresden berichtet 01/2018

With gazelles against job losses? An analysis of fast growing companies in East Germany

Negative headlines about job cuts or plant closures are causing a stir - the creation of new jobs, which is usually less volatile, on the other hand, receives considerably less public attention. The shrinking and growing of companies is an inherent part of growth processes under the conditions of a market economy. The empirical study presented here shows that in particular fast-growing companies, so-called gazelles, can make a significant contribution to this process of structural change: In East Germany, almost half of all new jobs have been created by gazelles in recent years, although they account for less than 8% of all companies. Particularly in Berlin and with some distance in Saxony, gazelles are represented with above-average frequency. A larger number of such gazelles could also overcome the small-scale corporate structure in the eastern German states, which is regarded as a major structural deficit of the eastern German economy.

Ochsner, Christian and Ragnitz, Joachim