Falling job vacancies reflect struggling e-car sector in Germany – research institute

Demand for jobs in the German car industry has reached a new low, according to a data analysis by the Institute for Economic Research (ifo) in cooperation with online job portal Indeed. Job postings in the German automotive industry were 53 percent lower in October 2024 than in August 2023, and vacancies in e-mobility had fallen faster than those for companies focused on combustion engines, the analysis showed.

"The decline in job ads makes it clear that the transformation to electric vehicles has slowed drastically in recent months," Oliver Falck, director of the ifo Centre for Industrial Organization and New Technologies, said in a press release. "In addition, the falling demand for labour reflects the current crisis in the automotive industry."

In December 2023, there were twice as many vacancies in companies focused on electromobility. This gap has narrowed, as job ads for electromobility were only 41 percent higher than in combustion engine firms. Since mid-2019, the number of jobs posted in the electromobility sector has been consistently higher than those in firms focused on combustion engines.

Carmaker Ford this week announced it would cut 14 percent of its European workforce, blaming weak European demand for electric vehicles (EVs), inadequate state support, and competition from China, Reuters reported. Volkswagen, meanwhile, faces mass walkouts as management and labour leaders have failed to reach agreements on how to cut costs.

In response to looming plant closures, chancellor Olaf Scholz has warned that workers should not pay for "possible management errors" at VW. The government is currently debating measures to help Germany's automotive industry – the country's largest manufacturing industry – but opinions differ on how to address the sector's continuing dependence on combustion engine technology.