Business Climate for Germany’s Self-Employed Clouds Over

The business climate for Germany’s self-employed clouded over somewhat in June, with the “Jimdo-ifo Business Climate Index for the Self-Employed” falling to -14.0* points, down from -11.8 points* in May. That was mainly due to significantly worse expectations. “The upturn hoped for by the solo self-employed and microenterprises suffered a setback,” says ifo expert Katrin Demmelhuber.

“The self-employed are still rather reluctant to invest in new digital technologies,” says Demmelhuber. Cloud computing is currently the most widespread established technology. 35.1% of the solo self-employed and microenterprises already use it, and a further 7.5% plan to do so in the near future. New technologies with artificial intelligence are rarely used by the self-employed: 14.4% and 9.4% respectively plan to use them. Compared to 2023, the importance of artificial intelligence and cloud computing for the self-employed has increased significantly. Both technologies are used much more frequently in large companies than by the solo self-employed and microenterprises.

The ifo Institute has been publishing the Jimdo-ifo Business Climate Index for solo self-employed persons and microenterprises (fewer than nine employees) since August 2021. As in the composite index, all sectors of the economy are taken into account. However, its main focus is the service sector.

*Balances, not seasonally adjusted