Jobs unsustainable if German changes renewables laws
13 November 2013
There are fears for jobs at German manufacturing and industrial firms, after the German government suggested it may drop subsidies for green energy use.
Wed, 13 Nov 2013There are fears for jobs at German manufacturing and industrial firms, after the German government suggested it may drop subsidies for green energy use.
According to the Financial Times yesterday (12 November), the government is considering the removal of some of the €2.3bn (£1.9bn) of subsidies that have shielded companies from the cost of the country’s move to greener energy sources, known in Germany as ‘Energiewende’.
This raises the costs for businesses using large amounts of energy, such as manufacturers, and also raises questions for firms producing renewable power.
Kurt Bock, chief executive officer of chemicals firm BASF, tells Der Spiegel: “We need to decide, do we want to secure jobs or do we want a so-called fair burden sharing?”
Jack Shadwell, business manager at energy recruiter Earthstaff, tells recruiter.co.uk that if effective, the cuts “can’t help but have an impact on jobs”.
But Shadwell says that renewables firms and power companies as a whole in the country “are not only currently actively recruiting for large developments, but have projects in the pipeline that will no doubt create jobs in the coming years”.
And a spokesperson for Staffgroup, Earthstaff’s parent firm and an entrant on this year's HOT 100 list of the UK's most profitable recruiters, sponsored by Flo Software Systems and supported by RBS, tells us that despite forecasted job losses, the company is “seeing a positive job outlook in automotive sector in Germany, as well as huge demand for IT developers in Berlin”.
Last month, global energy recruiter Spencer Ogden said its new office in Germany was partly prompted out of demand created by Energiewende. No one from the firm was available to comment.
According to the Financial Times yesterday (12 November), the government is considering the removal of some of the €2.3bn (£1.9bn) of subsidies that have shielded companies from the cost of the country’s move to greener energy sources, known in Germany as ‘Energiewende’.
This raises the costs for businesses using large amounts of energy, such as manufacturers, and also raises questions for firms producing renewable power.
Kurt Bock, chief executive officer of chemicals firm BASF, tells Der Spiegel: “We need to decide, do we want to secure jobs or do we want a so-called fair burden sharing?”
Jack Shadwell, business manager at energy recruiter Earthstaff, tells recruiter.co.uk that if effective, the cuts “can’t help but have an impact on jobs”.
But Shadwell says that renewables firms and power companies as a whole in the country “are not only currently actively recruiting for large developments, but have projects in the pipeline that will no doubt create jobs in the coming years”.
And a spokesperson for Staffgroup, Earthstaff’s parent firm and an entrant on this year's HOT 100 list of the UK's most profitable recruiters, sponsored by Flo Software Systems and supported by RBS, tells us that despite forecasted job losses, the company is “seeing a positive job outlook in automotive sector in Germany, as well as huge demand for IT developers in Berlin”.
Last month, global energy recruiter Spencer Ogden said its new office in Germany was partly prompted out of demand created by Energiewende. No one from the firm was available to comment.
