German Self-Employed Having Major Survival Concerns: Jimdo-ifo Survey

Despite a moderate recovery in business confidence among the self-employed in Germany, they remained pessimistic in November as they have major concerns about their survival amid the risk of a recession in the biggest euro area economy, results of a survey suggested on Thursday.

The Jimdo-ifo Business Climate Index for the Self-Employed rose to minus 21.6 points, from minus 25.0 points in October.

“However, the situation remains difficult for the self-employed,” said Klaus Wohlrabe, head of surveys at ifo said.

“They have major concerns for their survival.”

Positive and negative balances regarding current business situation was somewhat balanced in November, reflecting an improvement, the ifo survey showed.

The solo self-employed were very pessimistic about the coming months. This was in contrast to the much more strong advancement in the expectations index in the general economy.

In retail and wholesale, about 50 percent of self-employed was pessimistic about the coming six months.

Among the self-employed, 19.4 percent considered their economic survival threatened. Although this was slightly below the 19.7 percent seen in October, it was significantly higher figure than the average for the economy as a whole.

The survey, which began in August 2021, was conducted among both self-employed and microenterprises from all sectors of the economy, though the main focus was given to the service sector.

The ifo institute conducts the survey in collaboration with Jimdo, a provider of online tools specially geared toward the solo self-employed and small businesses, and VGSD e.V. – Germany’s association of founders and self-employed people.

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