Stubborn German Slowdown Ominous for European Economy

From the WSJ: Stubborn German Slowdown Ominous for European Economy

GDP growth in Germany was a paltry 0.6% last year! Manufacturing contracted 3.6%.

Additionally the gas automotive industry represents about a quarter of Germany’s economy. That’s a big issue considering electric cars don’t need all the gas automotive parts Germany produces and the current leader–Tesla–is a primary competitor to German car companies like BMW and Mercedes.

“The next decade will be a decade of underperformance, and people may once again start talking about Germany as the sick man of Europe,” said Joerg Kraemer, chief economist at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.

…

Germany’s weakness is bad news for Europe, and not just because of its size, accounting for about a fifth of the EU’s total gross domestic product.

…

Germany’s Federal Labor Agency said this month that job vacancies were falling and more firms had reduced working hours to preserve jobs.