A banner with the inscription "ifo" stands at a press conference of the Institute for Economic Research (ifo) in Munich. (zu dpa: «One in five self-employed in Germany fear for livelihood, survey finds») Leonie Asendorpf/dpa One in five self-employed people in Germany are concerned about their financial livelihood, a survey by the Munich-based ifo Institute revealed on Tuesday.
The institute said 20.6% of self-employed people were worried about the survival of their business in April, compared to just 8.1% of companies surveyed across the entire economy.
"The combination of a lack of orders and growing uncertainty is putting an increasing strain on the self-employed," said ifo expert Katrin Demmelhuber.
Just under half (48.4%) of the self-employed individuals and micro-enterprises with fewer than nine employees surveyed reported a lack of orders in April.
This means their situation has deteriorated slightly since the January survey (46.6%).
According to survey, the business climate has deteriorated significantly: after standing at -20.8 points in March, the index stood at a record low of -29.9 points in April.
The survey results showed assessments of the current situation and future expectations also declined significantly.
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