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