The switch from the internal combustion engine to battery power is set to cut the number of jobs in Germany's key automotive sector by a third, the respected ifo institute predicted on Thursday.
Ifo put the number employed in the petrol and diesel-powered sector in Germany at currently around 613,000. "Between 29 percent and 36 percent of the workers involved are at stake," an ifo study commissioned by the Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) found.
Even if around 86,000 of those currently employed were to retire by 2025 in the run-up to "electromobility," a large gap remained, it said. The German government last year extended its subsidies to purchasers of electric vehicles to 2025 as part of its drive to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Retraining should be commenced immediately to soften the effects, Oliver Falck, the professor leading the study, said. Carmakers could also return production processes that have been contracted out to their own plants, although this would hit component suppliers, Falck noted.
"The switch to electromobility poses a major challenge to medium-sized companies in the supplier sector in particular," ifo president Clemens Fuest said.
In 2019, the value of all products dependent on the internal combustion engine was 149 billion euros (180 billion dollars), he said, noting that electric cars no longer need the cylinder heads, pistons, fuel pumps, spark plugs and exhausts that external suppliers often provide.
Research and development and creating new capacity for electrification, along with digitalization, have helped maintain employment in the sector, but carmakers are now starting to cut their staff complements.
For the ifo researchers, a central issue in the years ahead is whether the reduction in jobs in parallel structures for combustion engines and electric cars will result in yet more job cuts.
Notice: No person, organization and/or company shall disseminate or broadcast the above article on Xinhua Silk Road website without prior permission by Xinhua Silk Road.
A single purchase
