German business insolvencies down in May, but more employees affected

DPA

Tue, Jun 10, 2025, 4:16 AM 1 min read

The number of German businesses filing for bankruptcy was down last month, after reaching a 20-year high in April, according to new figures published Tuesday.

Across Germany, 1,478 businesses declared insolvency in May, a decline of 9% compared to the previous month, though 17% higher than in the same month last year, the Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH) said.

Insolvency figures were particularly high among construction, trade and manufacturing businesses in May, according to the report.

The head of IWH insolvency research, Steffen Müller, said: "The early indicators also suggest a slight decline in insolvency figures for June."

"Nevertheless, we will see more company insolvencies in Germany than last year for the foreseeable future," he added.

For April, the IWH had reported 1,626 insolvencies.

Despite the decline in bankruptcies in May, the economists said more employees were affected overall as bigger firms went insolvent.

"According to the IWH insolvency trend, 15,000 jobs were affected in the largest 10% of insolvent companies in May. This puts the number of affected employees 7% above the previous month's figure, 27% above the level of May 2024 and even 130% above the pre-pandemic average from May recorded from 2016 to 2019."