German industry reduced its workforce by around 124,000 in 2025, according to an analysis by consulting firm EY based on data from the Federal Statistical Office. The study says industrial employment fell by 2.3 percent, down to about 5.38 million people, covering companies with at least 50 employees.
The biggest decline was recorded in the automotive industry, which, by EY’s estimate, lost around 50,000 jobs. The chemical and pharmaceutical sector reported roughly 2,000 fewer employees. The analysis also notes that industry revenues fell by 1.1 percent in 2025, while the fourth quarter of 2025 marked the tenth consecutive quarter of declining revenues. According to the data, the automotive, paper, and textile sectors posted declines, while the metal industry and electrical engineering recorded growth, DPA reports.
Compared with 2019, before the pandemic, industrial employment in Germany is lower by around 266,000 jobs—about 5 percent—while the automotive sector alone has lost roughly 111,000 employees over that period, a drop of around 13 percent. At the same time, the textile and metal industries have seen employment fall by 16 percent and 13 percent, respectively.
Such trends in the EU’s largest industrial economy are also reflected in countries closely tied to European supply chains, including Serbia—particularly through the automotive sector and metal processing industry. When demand weakens in the EU and orders decline, the pressure often moves down the supply chain, a topic we recently covered in more detail.
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In Serbia’s case, the Independent Metalworkers’ Union of Serbia said that during 2025 as many as 12,640 workers were placed on paid leave with compensation equal to 60 percent of their salary, for periods longer than the legally prescribed 45 working days. According to the union, this practice led to the dismissal of more than 6,000 workers in 2025, and the negative trend has continued into 2026.
The union warns that this case will not be isolated, as similar measures are being announced in other automotive-industry companies in Serbia. Although these measures are, according to the union, formally implemented in line with current legislation, the union sees the core problem in the workforce structure: a large number of workers have less than 10 years of service, meaning severance pay in the event of job loss is most often below 200,000 dinars—an amount the union says is insufficient to ensure basic economic security.
Taken together, EY’s analysis for Germany and the union’s messages in Serbia point to a similar pattern: industrial cycles in the EU—especially in the automotive industry—are increasingly directly affecting jobs in countries that are part of Europe’s manufacturing network as well.
