More women than men start-up in the liberal professions
While the pandemic continued to pose significant challenges to some sectors of the economy in 2021, such as businesses with customer-facing and providers of personal services, the number of start-ups rose by 1.4% to 336,000 in 2021. Nevertheless, the numbers did not yet reach the pre-pandemic level. However, it is important to note that at the beginning of 2020, the master craftsman obligation was reintroduced in some trades, which, for example permanently dampens start-up activities in the construction industry.
Compared to the previous year, the growth in business start-ups was highest in agriculture and forestry (+ 2.5 %), and lowest in the liberal professions (+ 0.3 %). In a five-year comparison, 2021 to 2017, the structure of the areas of activity continues to shift in favour of non-commercial activities: while the share of freelance start-ups was 24.9 % five years ago, this sector now accounts for 26.4 % of all start-ups.
Continuous increase in the proportion of women in the liberal professions
More and more women are founding businesses in the liberal professions. This is a nationwide trend in Germany (2020: 52.8 %; 2021: 53.7 %) as well as in individual federal states. In Schleswig-Holstein, Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg, Bremen, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Berlin, Lower Saxony, and Saxony, gender parity has already been exceeded by more than five percentage points.
In contrast, the share of women founding in the trades has stagnated at around 30 %, and founding a trade in addition to their employment at around 40 %.
Despite the uncertainties arising from the pandemic and the consequences of the war in Ukraine, IfM Bonn researchers expect a further slight increase in the number of start-ups in all three areas of activity this year. However, the uncertainty resulting from the changed market conditions could delay the implementation of start-up projects.
