Frankfurt am Main – Large parts of the industry are stuck in an economic trough. Poor corporate strategies and investments in sustainable business areas are still a problem. However, anyone who invests in local locations wins. This is the result of the latest survey by IG Metall among its works councils.
Compared to autumn 2024, the economic outlook is stagnating: 45% of companies describe the outlook for the next three to six months as currently “good” to “very good” (2024: 43%). This compares to 47% with poor or very poor prospects (2024: 50%). The level of short-time work also remains the same: almost one in five companies (18%) has to reduce working hours at least partially due to a lack of orders (2024: 20%). Mechanical engineering and the steel sector are particularly frequently affected.
Christiane Benner, First Chairwoman of IG Metall, expresses concern: “The industry is currently moving towards improvement as if on a slippery slope. Employees need quick and unmistakable signals from politicians that the framework conditions are becoming clearer and better. Electromobility is up, energy costs are down. Companies have to get out of the trough and implement it!”
The chairwoman also makes it clear that support instruments must not end: “Where short-time work helps, short-time work must continue to be used. We all need bridges.”
Challenging: Lack of framework conditions, lack of corporate strategies
High energy prices continue to cause problems for companies: 43% see their competitiveness at great or very great risk as a result, particularly in the steel industry (82%), metal production (66%) and vehicle construction (59%). Complicating matters is US customs policy: 20% of companies are discussing relocating production to the USA; 8% are already planning this specifically.
In every second company (49%), the IG Metall works councils see employment as secured in the coming years. The situation is most stable in other vehicle construction (71%; aerospace, trains, ships) and in crafts (63%). Car manufacturers and suppliers as well as the steel industry are uncertain, with only 31 and 41% respectively having good job prospects.
The strategy and participation of the companies affected by economic change are also extremely inadequate. Not even 45% of companies under pressure to adapt have a transformation strategy to move locations forward. Only 38% discuss and develop the questions about innovation and production of tomorrow with the works council.
“That seriously makes me angry! How little innovative spirit and self-respect can you have as an entrepreneur or manager that we won’t see any improvement here in years? No forward strategy, no understanding of new business models? That’s disappointing. If more companies would involve their works councils appropriately, they wouldn’t have the problem in this form!” the union leader appears annoyed.
Future fields must be more fully developed
At least some of the companies have already discovered sustainable business areas for themselves and as profitable: A third (31%) of the companies already have products and services in the spirit of a climate-neutral industry, and a fifth (21%) are planning to do so. A total of 43% of companies with investments in climate protection already see them as profitable, and a further 44% expect profits from them at least in the medium term. This is already particularly profitable in the areas of rail, ships, aerospace (64%) and electrical engineering (53%), and least of all in the automotive industry (32%) and in the steel sector (19%).
“We have to get into the fields of the future,” explains Christiane Benner. “Where this is happening, things are at least slowly moving in the right direction, we have to strengthen this significantly. We also have to develop new sectors with full power: circular economy, batteries, recycling, artificial intelligence, the possibilities are there!”
Current efforts are not yet sufficient for sustainable employment: only 47% of works councils estimate that their sustainable business sectors will keep the number of jobs in the company stable or expand.
Background/methodology: The works council survey was carried out online between September 8th and 26th, 2025. Employee representatives nationwide from the IG Metall sectors (e.g. mechanical engineering, vehicle construction, electrical engineering, crafts, IT) took part. The survey represents 2,623 companies with a total of over 1.3 million employees.