{"id":12790,"date":"2026-02-18T14:18:54","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T13:18:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wayes.de\/?p=12790"},"modified":"2026-02-18T14:19:01","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T13:19:01","slug":"50000-fewer-jobs-and-the-pressure-continues-to-mount","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wayes.de\/en\/news-en\/50000-fewer-jobs-and-the-pressure-continues-to-mount\/","title":{"rendered":"50,000 fewer jobs \u2013 and the pressure continues to mount"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Metal and steel processing, the backbone of German industry and strongly characterised by small and medium-sized enterprises, has cut around 50,000 jobs in the last five years. More could follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>High energy prices, CO\u2082 costs, international tariffs and structural competitive disadvantages are putting companies under enormous pressure. According to a recent report in the Handelsblatt newspaper, many companies see \u2018no prospects at all\u2019. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.handelsblatt.com\/unternehmen\/industrie\/mittelstand-wir-erleben-gerade-eine-zweiteilung-in-doppelter-hinsicht\/100197124.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Source<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What we are seeing in discussions with industrial companies:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is no longer just about cost reduction. It is about location decisions, vertical integration and strategic realignment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Companies are responding with production relocations, local-for-local strategies and structural staff reductions. Political relief is not yet being felt in many places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What is needed now is both: short-term stabilisation of liquidity and profitability, and clear, sustainable location and transformation strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For owner-managed industrial companies in particular, these are decisions with enormous implications. We support companies in precisely these phases. With a clear view of figures, structures and future viability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/wayes.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Grafik_Stellenabbau_MetallStahl_V2.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12787\" width=\"433\" height=\"541\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wayes.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Grafik_Stellenabbau_MetallStahl_V2.png 1080w, https:\/\/wayes.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Grafik_Stellenabbau_MetallStahl_V2-900x1125.png 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 433px) 100vw, 433px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Metal and steel processing, the backbone of German industry and strongly characterised by small and medium-sized enterprises, has cut around 50,000 jobs in the last five years. More could follow. High energy prices, CO\u2082 costs, international tariffs and structural competitive disadvantages are putting companies under enormous pressure. According to a recent report in the Handelsblatt [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":12786,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>50,000 fewer jobs \u2013 and the pressure continues to mount - WAYES<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wayes.de\/en\/news-en\/50000-fewer-jobs-and-the-pressure-continues-to-mount\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"50,000 fewer jobs \u2013 and the pressure continues to mount - WAYES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Metal and steel processing, the backbone of German industry and strongly characterised by small and medium-sized enterprises, has cut around 50,000 jobs in the last five years. More could follow. High energy prices, CO\u2082 costs, international tariffs and structural competitive disadvantages are putting companies under enormous pressure. According to a recent report in the Handelsblatt [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/wayes.de\/en\/news-en\/50000-fewer-jobs-and-the-pressure-continues-to-mount\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"WAYES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-18T13:18:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-18T13:19:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wayes.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Grafik_Stellenabbau_MetallStahl_V1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Simon Wierz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wayes.de\/en\/news-en\/50000-fewer-jobs-and-the-pressure-continues-to-mount\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wayes.de\/en\/news-en\/50000-fewer-jobs-and-the-pressure-continues-to-mount\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Simon Wierz\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wayes.de\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/4d79bf067114032eacc3ffd81af7b5d2\"},\"headline\":\"50,000 fewer jobs \u2013 and the pressure continues to mount\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-18T13:18:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-18T13:19:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wayes.de\/en\/news-en\/50000-fewer-jobs-and-the-pressure-continues-to-mount\/\"},\"wordCount\":168,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wayes.de\/en\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wayes.de\/en\/news-en\/50000-fewer-jobs-and-the-pressure-continues-to-mount\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wayes.de\/en\/news-en\/50000-fewer-jobs-and-the-pressure-continues-to-mount\/\",\"name\":\"50,000 fewer jobs \u2013 and the pressure continues to mount - WAYES\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wayes.de\/en\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-18T13:18:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-18T13:19:01+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wayes.de\/en\/news-en\/50000-fewer-jobs-and-the-pressure-continues-to-mount\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/wayes.de\/en\/news-en\/50000-fewer-jobs-and-the-pressure-continues-to-mount\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wayes.de\/en\/news-en\/50000-fewer-jobs-and-the-pressure-continues-to-mount\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Startseite\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/wayes.de\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"50,000 fewer jobs \u2013 and the pressure continues to mount\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wayes.de\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wayes.de\/en\/\",\"name\":\"WAYES\",\"description\":\"The Changers to Yes\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wayes.de\/en\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/wayes.de\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wayes.de\/en\/#organization\",\"name\":\"WAYES\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wayes.de\/en\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wayes.de\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wayes.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/wayes.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Logo.png\",\"width\":153,\"height\":32,\"caption\":\"WAYES\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wayes.de\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.xing.com\/pages\/wayes\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/wayes\/mycompany\/verification\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/thisiswayes\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wayes.de\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/4d79bf067114032eacc3ffd81af7b5d2\",\"name\":\"Simon Wierz\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"50,000 fewer jobs \u2013 and the pressure continues to mount - WAYES","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/wayes.de\/en\/news-en\/50000-fewer-jobs-and-the-pressure-continues-to-mount\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"50,000 fewer jobs \u2013 and the pressure continues to mount - WAYES","og_description":"Metal and steel processing, the backbone of German industry and strongly characterised by small and medium-sized enterprises, has cut around 50,000 jobs in the last five years. 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