The German automotive industry is shedding staff at a scale not seen in years. By the end of the third quarter of 2025, around 48,700 fewer people were employed in the sector compared with a year earlier, according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). This represents a decline of 6.3%, the steepest drop of any major industrial sector with more than 200,000 employees, the authority reports.
With 721,400 employees, the sector has now reached its lowest employment level since the second quarter of 2011, when it stood at 718,000. Despite the downturn, the automotive industry remains Germany’s second-largest industrial sector, behind mechanical engineering, which employed around 934,200 people at the end of Q3 2025.
Suppliers hit harder than manufacturers
A closer look reveals notable differences within the industry. Employment in the motor vehicles and engines segment fell by 3.8% to 446,800 people, while the bodies, superstructures and trailers segment recorded a 4.0% decline to 39,200 employees.
The most severely affected area is the supplier segment “manufacture of parts and accessories for motor vehicles”, where employment dropped by 11.1% to around 235,400 people. Destatis notes that other supplier fields outside the core classifications — such as tyre manufacturers — are not included in this assessment.
Broad decline across industry, with one exception
The automotive industry is not alone in facing job cuts. Other major industrial sectors also saw significant losses. Overall, employment in manufacturing fell by 120,300 people, or 2.2%, to around 5.43 million.
Job losses in other key industrial sectors, according to Destatis, include:
- Metal production and processing: –5.4% to 215,400
- Data processing equipment, electronics, optics: –3.0% to 310,300
- Plastics industry: –2.6% to 321,400
- Metal products: –2.5% to 491,500
- Mechanical engineering: –2.2% to 934,200
- Chemical industry: –1.2% to 323,600
- Electrical equipment: –0.4% to 387,500
The only sector showing growth is the food industry, where employment increased by 8,800 people, or 1.8%, reaching 510,500 employees by the end of Q3 2025.
Structural pressures behind the decline
Destatis explains that the figures are based on monthly manufacturing reports from establishments with 50 or more employees.
The sharp downturn in automotive employment reflects several overlapping trends:
- the shift to electromobility, requiring redesigned production processes and different workforce skills
- cost pressures and rationalisation measures, particularly among lower-margin suppliers
- global supply-chain disruptions, shifting demand patterns and hesitation over new investments
- relocation of production and increasing automation across industrial operations
The mid-tier value-added segment — typically supplier companies — is particularly exposed, suffering employment losses more than three times higher than those of vehicle manufacturers themselves.
