Federal Employment Agency: 177,000 industrial jobs lost in one year

Mechanical engineering also recorded significant losses: 28,000 positions in mechanical engineering. In the rest of the metals industry, 24,000 jobs were lost. Taken together, the losses in these core industrial areas amount to more than 100,000 positions.

Automotive sector as the biggest loser

The Federal Employment Agency puts the total figure at 177,000 jobs that have been lost in industry over the past twelve months. Almost 180,000 fewer positions in the manufacturing sector mean one of the steepest declines in recent years.

Already at the end of June, the chairwoman of the Federal Employment Agency, Andrea Nahles, had stated that 15,000 jobs were currently disappearing in industry every month. Cumulatively over the past twelve months, that figure stood at 174,000 by the end of June. The data now presented confirms this trend with a slightly rising tendency.

Job cuts continue

The gains in other sectors were unable to offset the losses in industry, according to the Federal Employment Agency. Overall, employment across all sectors of the economy fell by 108,000. The decline in industrial employment is thus fully impacting the entire labor market.

The Federal Employment Agency also makes clear that the cuts are not yet over. Der Arbeitsplatzabbau ist noch nicht beendet. Given the monthly loss rate of around 15,000 positions, no trend reversal is in sight in the short term.

Sources and context

This news was broadcast on July 15, 2026 on Deutschlandfunk. The Federal Employment Agency evaluates mandatory social insurance employment for its statistics, which is considered a reliable indicator for employment trends in Germany.