The number of start-ups in Munich continued to decline in 2017. Only 11,570 people registered a business in the state capital. The Chamber of Industry and Commerce attributes this to the strong employment situation.
The current data represents a decline of 11.4 percent compared to the previous year, marking the sixth consecutive year of declining start-up numbers. New company formations fell by 8.8 percent to 11,351. Business transfers to successors plummeted by 64.3 percent to 219 cases. The Chamber of Industry and Commerce for Munich and Upper Bavaria published the figures.
Despite the low, Munich’s startup landscape is doing better than the national average: According to KfW figures In Germany, the corresponding number even fell by 17 percent in 2017. Eberhard Sasse, President of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce for Munich and Upper Bavaria and the Bavarian Chamber of Industry and Commerce, says about the background:
“The labor market in the greater Munich area offers full employment.”
This is leading to a decline in interest in self-employment and the associated risks. According to the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, there is a trend toward starting a business as a sideline. Sasse says:
“In this way, they test whether the targeted business model is even viable, parallel to an existing employment relationship.”
Do we need a school subject called “Entrepreneurship”?
Startups and new companies, according to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry president, provide innovation and dynamism and are thus the foundation for future economic success. Long-established businesses are also threatened if no successors can be found willing to assume the entrepreneurial risk from the previous generation.
In response to the weak figures, Sasse calls on politicians to provide more support for prospective self-employed people:
“We need a better start-up climate with less bureaucracy and simpler tax rules.”
The opportunities and value of entrepreneurship for society must be made clear at school.
