Pandemic-induced job losses worry German car industry

Source: Xinhua | 2020-03-31

The German car industry is worried about potential job losses because of the spread of the coronavirus, Hildegard Mueller, president of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), told national broadcaster ARD on Monday.

"We worry about jobs and the future," Mueller stressed, adding that the crisis is "existential" and a recession must be expected this year.

For now, however, Mueller said that German car companies treat their employees "very responsibly." Car makers make full use of available instruments to "keep people on board."

Mueller refused to comment on "speculations" about how deep recession would be, but emphasized that the "decisive factor" was how a "structured ramp-up of technologies and industries" could be achieved in order to "secure as many jobs there as possible."

Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer from the Institute for Customer Insight (ICI-HSG) warned that "car production in Germany will be significantly damaged by the corona crisis in 2020 and beyond."

"We must expect a significant reduction in production capacity in the automotive industry in Germany," Dudenhoeffer said, adding that "this could mean more than 100,000 jobs or 12 percent of the current 830,000 jobs at car manufacturers and suppliers that are at risk."