The trade complains about the excessive bureaucracy in Germany. Holger Schwannecke, Secretary General of the Central Association of German Skilled Trades, told the German Press Agency: "There are umpteen documentation requirements, reporting requirements, bureaucracy in general. We are increasingly hearing the wish from companies: "Let's just work." If you do every area of entrepreneurial activities and have to track and prove them, at some point their hat tie bursts."

The federal government's moratorium on stress has so far only been on paper. "Something must finally happen and the plan to reduce the bureaucratic burden on companies must be taken seriously," demanded Schwannecke.

Crises also affect the trade

The energy price crisis is also causing problems for many companies in the trades. "There are certainly many in the trades who say: Hopefully this year will be over soon." Many companies were massively shaken - initially at the beginning of 2022 by the effects of the pandemic and the disrupted supply chains and then since February 24 by the effects of the Ukraine war, which have exacerbated the whole thing again," said Schwannecke.

"The liquidity bottlenecks are increasing in numerous companies in the trades, especially the energy-intensive ones." The reason is the high financing costs for electricity and gas, for example, but also for many other things, because supply chains are not yet working properly again and the prices for materials are still high.

The companies could only partially, in many cases not at all, pass on these higher costs through higher prices. "The possibilities for this are limited, for example, by long-term contracts without price escalation clauses," says Schwannecke.

Little predictability in many companies

Companies also reported that, of all things, in this highly stressful situation, some federal states put the issue of repayments of corona aid back on the agenda and pushed for it. "That is another building block that can worsen the liquidity situation of the companies. We will approach the federal states to achieve further relief for the companies here through a further deferral."

It is also difficult for a whole range of companies that they have no longer received any follow-up contracts from their suppliers. As a result, they are dependent on the daily updated prices. "That makes planning and calculations almost impossible," said Schwannecke.