GERMANY: Firms seek more staff, as exports rise – Ifo

Germany’s economic upturn is prompting a growing number of firms to look for additional staff, according to the Ifo Institut that showed its monthly Employment Barometer rose to 108.2 index points in January from 106.6 points in December, and a hairline above the 108.1 points in the index last February.

The monthly index has now reached its highest value since March 2012, as service providers remain the main driver behind this development.
In manufacturing, the employment barometer rose markedly. Manufacturers are tentatively recruiting more staff once again, while distributors also adopted a less cautious approach to hiring, with both retailers and wholesalers looking for staff once again.
Contractors were less willing to recruit additional staff, partly due to the winter. In the service sector, by contrast, more firms plan to expand their staff base, the Ifo report said.
Earlier, the Munich-based research institute said that German manufacturers were also optimistic as they expected exports, already at a very high level, to rise, boosted by the sharp drop in the euro exchange rate.
The Ifo Export Expectations index rose for the fourth successive month in January to 9.5 balance points from 7.7 seen in December, but still far from the 12-month high of 15.5 points in January 2014.
Export opportunities improved in nearly all key branches of German manufacturing, with export expectations rising sharply in mechanical engineering, the electronics industry and the in the production of data processing equipment.
Automotive manufacturers also expressed faint optimism about international trade.
In addition to the falling euro exchange rate, dropping oil prices also played a key role in this context, but the export expectations of metal production and processing firms were stifled and failed to remain at the high level seen in the last three months.