Press releases

Press release | 05.01.2026 Future Panel Mittelstand 2025: Skills shortages and rising labour costs are putting pressure on companies

As in the past four years, the issue of "skilled workers/demographic development“was the biggest challenge for entrepreneurs in 2025: According to the survey, four in ten companies find it difficult to recruit qualified staff despite the current economic slowdown.

Press release | 01.12.2025 Business Successions stagnate despite Demographic Change

According to estimates by the IfM Bonn, a succession will be due in around 186,000 companies over the next five years, as their owners are expected to step down from management because of age, illness or death.

Press release | 04.11.2025 What the German Mittelstand Needs Now

The IfM is the academic research centre for the Mittelstand. It arose from a letter exchange between Ludwig Erhard and Konrad Adenauer. These roots show that SMEs are more than just an economic factor.

Press release | 30.10.2025 SMEs benefit from their flexibility in times of geopolitical uncertainty

The geopolitical situation and increasingly fragile trade relations are currently posing particular challenges for export-oriented small and medium-sized enterprises. At the same time, the expanding defence sector for example also offers opportunities for companies that are prepared to change their …

Press release | 16.09.2025 The Economic Significance of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises remains high despite crises

Despite numerous geopolitical challenges, Small and Medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) generated €2.8 trillion in 2023, according to the most recent data available. This was 28% of Germany’s total turnover.

Press release | 02.09.2025 Freelancers most often start their businesses in Berlin

In 2024, most people started their own freelance businesses in Berlin, followed by Hamburg, Munich and Cologne.

Press release | 12.08.2025 NUI Regional Ranking: The city of Leverkusen remains at the top

The number of new entrepreneurial initiatives is back above pre-pandemic levels in all of Germany

Press release | 24.07.2025 More apprentices in larger establishments, fewer in very small establishments

Die Anzahl der Auszubildenden in der gewerblichen Wirtschaft und in den Freien Berufen ist in 2024 um rund 19.000 gegenüber dem Vorjahr gestiegen. Insgesamt lag sie Ende Dezember 2024 bei 1,52 Millionen.

Press release | 21.07.2025 A quarter of self-employed craftswomen return to full operational duties just six weeks after childbirth

For many self-employed craftswomen in North Rhine-Westphalia, pregnancy brings not only joyful anticipation but also significant physical and financial strain. This is the finding of a recent survey conducted by the Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn on behalf of the Ministry of Economic …

Press release | 20.05.2025 More courage for simpler building regulations

In recent years, Germany has tended to lose attractiveness as a location for investment projects. One reason is that commercial building permit procedures can sometimes take very long, making it difficult to accurately estimate total project costs.

Press release | 22.04.2025 Economic slowdown affects number of business start-ups

A total of approximately 360,000 new businesses were founded in Germany in 2024. Around 258,000 of them were started in the commercial sector, 7,040 in agriculture and forestry, and 94,900 in the liberal professions.

Press release | 09.04.2025 The federal government must now pave the way for the future

"According to a recent short survey, the vast majority of managing directors in Germany’s Mittelstand sector are calling on the new federal government to ensure reliable and consistent policy frameworks – and to refrain from excessive regulatory steering. This applies in particular to the ecological …

Press release | 08.04.2025 Less than half of all start-ups survive the first 5 years

Approximately 360,000 new enterprise were founded in Germany in 2024. It’s not just the number of start-ups that matters for an economy, but also their long-term survival.

Press release | 02.04.2025 The risk of insolvency was the highest in the transport and logistics sector in 2024

The risk of insolvency increased across most economic sectors in 2024, but the highest rate was in the transport and logistics sector: 14 out of 1,000 VAT-liable companies filed for insolvency.

Press release | 27.03.2025 Bureaucracy costs are a considerable burden for smaller companies in the industrial SME sector

A follow-up study from the machinery and equipment manufacturing sector shows that the overall burden of regulation (including EU bureaucracy) is higher for small companies than the gross return on sales.

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