Business services as an engine for growth and employment

Progress in information and communication technologies (I&C technologies) has led to dynamic economic growth that is often compared with the industrial revolution. Talk is of the emergence of a "New Economy" or also a knowledge-based service economy. Business services have a major importance within this process. They make an important contribution to economic growth and have a high potential for job creation in all developed economies. Whether Germany as an industrial country has taken full cognisance of this fundamental structural change is an open question. Falling behind in this are would seriously damage the German economy and would waste employment opportunities. To prevent this, the necessary institutional adjustments and future-oriented economic-policy decisions must be made.