Germany: the manufacturing data behind a 2026 plant decision
Output flat, headcount down 153,000, the most expensive hour in the set after Denmark and Austria, and industrial power above the EU average. The Eurostat figures a German plant manager actually needs, with the dataset codes.
Value added and employment
| Indicator | 2024 | 2025 | EU-27 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing gross value added (EUR bn) | 793.2 | 797.2 | 2,668.8 |
| Change on previous year | — | +0.5% | +2.0% |
| Manufacturing share of total gross value added | — | 19.4% | 15.8% |
| Employment, NACE C (thousand persons) | 7,415.0 | 7,262.0 | 29,901.6 |
| Value added per person employed (EUR k) | — | 109.8 | 89.3 |
| Productivity per hour, whole economy (PPS, EU-27=100) | 124.1 | 124.2 | 100.0 |
Eurostat nama_10_a10 (B1G, CP_MEUR, NACE C and TOTAL) and nama_10_a10_e (EMP_DC, THS_PER, NACE C), 2024–2025; productivity index from tesem160 (NLPR_HW, PC_EU27_2020_MPPS_CP), whole economy, 2024–2025. Value added per person employed = mfg GVA ÷ mfg employment, nominal current prices, not adjusted for price levels. Extracted 22 September 2026.
Nominal output rose 0.5% while employment fell 2.1%. Those 153,000 jobs are roughly 71% of the EU-27's entire net manufacturing job loss in 2025. Germany still has 201,177 registered manufacturing enterprises (sbs_ovw_act, 2023) — about 36 employed persons per enterprise against roughly 14 for the EU-27, so the German structure is one of larger plants than almost anywhere else in this set.
Where the value added sits
| Rank | Sub-sector (NACE Rev.2) | GVA 2023 (EUR m) | % of manufacturing GVA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Motor vehicles and trailers (C29) | 155,935 | 19.5% |
| 2 | Machinery and equipment n.e.c. (C28) | 119,739 | 15.0% |
| 3 | Fabricated metal products (C25) | 67,158 | 8.4% |
Eurostat nama_10_a64 (B1G, CP_MEUR), 2023, extracted 22 September 2026. Shares are calculated against nama_10_a64's own NACE C total for Germany in 2023, EUR 799,148m, which differs marginally from the nama_10_a10 vintage used above.
Automotive leads, but machinery and fabricated metal together are 23.4% of German manufacturing value added — more than motor vehicles on their own. Food, beverages and tobacco (60,392) and computer, electronic and optical products (60,252) follow close behind. Read that as a plant profile rather than a headline: a large share of German manufacturing is discrete, high-mix work whose losses sit in set-up, changeover and material waiting, not in line speed.
What an hour and a kilowatt-hour cost
| Measure | Period | Germany | EU-27 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Labour cost per hour, NACE C | 2023 | EUR 46.4 | EUR 32.1 |
| Labour cost per hour, NACE C | 2024 | EUR 48.5 | EUR 33.8 |
| Labour cost per hour, NACE C | 2025 | EUR 49.5 | EUR 35.0 |
| Change since 2023 | 2023→25 | +6.7% | +9.0% |
| Electricity, band ID, excl. recoverable taxes | 2025-S1 | EUR 0.2378/kWh | EUR 0.1969/kWh |
| Electricity, band ID, excl. recoverable taxes | 2025-S2 | EUR 0.2369/kWh | EUR 0.1920/kWh |
Labour cost: Eurostat lc_lci_lev (unit EUR, lcstruct D1_D4_MD5, NACE C), 2023–2025. Electricity: nrg_pc_205 (siec E7000, nrg_cons MWH2000-19999 = band ID, 2,000–19,999 MWh/year, tax I_TAX, EUR/kWh), 2025-S1 and 2025-S2. Extracted 22 September 2026.
German hourly labour cost rose more slowly than the EU-27 between 2023 and 2025 (+6.7% against +9.0%), so the pressure is not the trend. It is the level: EUR 49.5 an hour is 41% above the EU average and three times Portugal's EUR 16.5. Electricity at EUR 0.2369/kWh is the second highest of the ten Western countries after Denmark and above Hungary (EUR 0.234) in the CEE set, and it barely moved between the two 2025 semesters.
Hiring and labour shortage
| Measure | Germany | EU-27 |
|---|---|---|
| Job vacancy rate, NACE C, 2025 (2024) | 1.7% (2.0%) | 1.5% (1.8%) |
| Quarterly vacancy rate, 2025-Q3 / 2025-Q4 | 1.6 / 1.8 | 1.5 / 1.5 |
| Labour limiting production, 2026-Q2 / 2026-Q3 | 13.1% / 17.0% | 15.8% / 18.0% |
Job vacancy rate: Eurostat jvs_a_rate_r2 (NACE C, sizeclas TOTAL, unit AVG_A), 2024–2025, and jvs_q_nace2 (indicator JVR, NACE C, NSA), 2025-Q3 and 2025-Q4. Labour as a factor limiting production: ei_bsin_q_r2 (indic BS-FLP3-PC, s_adj NSA), 2026-Q2 and 2026-Q3 — 2026 quarters, not on the same time base as the annual rate. Extracted 22 September 2026.
The two series point different ways, as they do almost everywhere in this set. The annual vacancy rate fell from 2.0% to 1.7%, the quarterly rate rose from 1.6 to 1.8 between 2025-Q3 and 2025-Q4, and the share of manufacturers naming labour as a limit rose from 13.1% to 17.0% across two 2026 quarters — still below the EU-27's 18.0%. Germany is not a scarcity market on these numbers; it is a cost market.
AI and ICT adoption
24.4% of German manufacturers with 10 or more employees used at least one AI technology in 2025, against 16.1% in 2024 and 17.3% for EU-27 manufacturing (isoc_eb_ain2, E_AI_TANY, PC_ENT, GE10, NACE C). Across all sectors the figure was 26.0% (isoc_eb_ai). Eurostat broadened the AI question battery for the 2025 wave, so part of the increase between the two years is methodological; use 2025 to rank, not to measure growth. On the broader digital measure, 80.5% of German enterprises with 10+ employees reached at least a low digital-intensity score in 2024 against 73.7% for the EU-27 (isoc_e_dii, E_DI4_GELO) — but that indicator counts e-invoicing, ERP and web presence, and says nothing about whether a machine reports why it stopped.
What this means for a plant here
- Price the idle hour, not the percentage. At EUR 49.5 an hour (lc_lci_lev, 2025), twenty operators standing still for one eight-hour shift is about EUR 7,900 of direct labour. That is arithmetic on the Eurostat rate, before machine, order or penalty effects — the fuller cost model belongs on manufacturing-metrics.org, not here. In a German capital request, the absolute euro figure travels further than a rate.
- The hours have to come from somewhere other than hiring. Employment fell 2.1% while nominal output rose 0.5%. Capacity recovered from stoppages is capacity you do not have to recruit — and at a 1.7% vacancy rate, recruiting is not the binding constraint it is in the Netherlands (3.9%).
- Meter energy per part, not just per month. EUR 0.2369/kWh and a price that fell only 0.4% between semesters makes energy a real line item in Germany in a way it is not in Finland (EUR 0.0846).
- Build the loss profile around discrete work. With machinery and fabricated metal at 23.4% of value added and automotive at 19.5%, most German plants run mixed schedules. A stoppage record without real causes tells a German works council and a German controller nothing.
- Where the next question is how to pay for it, German capital support for efficiency and digitalisation is covered separately at factoryoptimizationai.com/we/.
- Western European manufacturing in 2026: the data
- Italy: the manufacturing data
- Spain: the manufacturing data
- Portugal: the manufacturing data
- Netherlands: the manufacturing data
Every indicator on this page for 17 European countries and EU-27, each row carrying its Eurostat dataset code and link. Excel.
Questions
- How much did German manufacturing employment fall in 2025?
- From 7,415,000 to 7,262,000 persons, a fall of 153,000 or 2.1% (Eurostat nama_10_a10_e, EMP_DC, THS_PER, NACE C). The EU-27 lost 214,900 net over the same year, so Germany accounts for about 71% of the European total.
- Is German manufacturing labour cost rising faster than the EU average?
- No. Hourly labour cost in NACE C went from EUR 46.4 in 2023 to EUR 49.5 in 2025, +6.7%, against +9.0% for the EU-27 (lc_lci_lev, lcstruct D1_D4_MD5). The German issue is the level rather than the slope: EUR 49.5 against EUR 35.0 for the EU-27 and EUR 16.5 for Portugal.
- What does German industrial electricity cost?
- EUR 0.2369 per kWh in 2025-S2 for band ID, 2,000 to 19,999 MWh a year, excluding VAT and other recoverable taxes (nrg_pc_205, siec E7000, tax I_TAX). That is above the EU-27 average of EUR 0.1920 and second only to Denmark among the ten Western countries covered here.
- Which is Germany's largest manufacturing sub-sector?
- Motor vehicles and trailers, EUR 155,935m of gross value added in 2023, 19.5% of manufacturing (nama_10_a64). Machinery and equipment n.e.c. is second at EUR 119,739m and fabricated metal third at EUR 67,158m; those two together are larger than automotive.
- How many German manufacturers use AI?
- 24.4% of manufacturers with 10 or more employees in 2025, against an EU-27 manufacturing average of 17.3% (isoc_eb_ain2, E_AI_TANY). The 2024 figure was 16.1%, but Eurostat widened the question set for the 2025 wave, so the two years are two different measurements rather than a growth rate.
Sources
- Eurostat nama_10_a10 — gross value added, NACE C and total (2024–2025)
- Eurostat nama_10_a10_e — employment, domestic concept, NACE C (2024–2025)
- Eurostat nama_10_a64 — value added by manufacturing sub-sector (2023)
- Eurostat sbs_ovw_act — number of enterprises, NACE C (2023)
- Eurostat lc_lci_lev — hourly labour cost, NACE C (2023–2025)
- Eurostat nrg_pc_205 — electricity prices, non-household consumers (2025-S1, 2025-S2)
- Eurostat jvs_a_rate_r2 — annual job vacancy rate, NACE C (2024–2025)
- Eurostat jvs_q_nace2 — quarterly job vacancy rate, NACE C (2025-Q3, 2025-Q4)
- Eurostat ei_bsin_q_r2 — factors limiting production, labour (2026-Q2, 2026-Q3)
- Eurostat isoc_eb_ai — enterprises using AI, all sectors (2024–2025)
- Eurostat isoc_eb_ain2 — enterprises using AI, NACE C (2024–2025)
- Eurostat tesem160 — labour productivity per hour worked, PPS, EU-27 = 100 (2024–2025)
- Eurostat isoc_e_dii — digital intensity index, enterprises with 10+ employees (2024)
Published by TEEPTRAK SAS, which makes production-monitoring and OEE software. Every figure is sourced on the page. Funding rules, standards and reporting duties change: check the official documents before you budget or commit.