“The continuing positive economic and employment development in the region is reflected only in a few cases in the list of the largest companies,” says Michael Schmaus, economic expert at the IHK. By contrast, some companies even reduced their workforce in the chamber district. Prominent examples are Deutsche Telekom AG and Haribo.

This development will be offset by a growing number of small and medium-sized companies. “Larger establishments are unfortunately the exception in the region,” says Schmaus. The lack of commercial space and high commercial and property taxes are certainly a barrier.

Overall, the number of employees subject to social security contributions has risen considerably at all companies. At the end of 2017, there were 176,387 in Bonn and 158,576 in the Rhine-Sieg district. This was an increase of around 3200 employees within a year for Bonn and around 4500 for the Rhine-Sieg district. There were also similar increases in the previous year.

The 35 largest private employers in the region (2018)

Telekom spokesperson Peter Kespohl put the reduction in the number of employees of almost 1000 to 14,210 at Deutsche Telekom in Bonn and the Rhine-Sieg district down to normal fluctuations that frequently occur within a company group. The number of Postbank employees in the region stayed almost constant at 3385, although the number of employees across Germany fell by around 1100 to 20,107 as Postbank has just been merged with Deutsche Bank’s private client business.

Banks laying people off

The difficult economic situation due to the period of low interest and the trend towards digitalisation has also affected other banks in the region. The Sparkasse Köln-Bonn wants to cut 850 of its around 3000 full-time positions within five years. There was only a small foretaste of this in the region: the number of employees fell from 924 to 879. The number of employees also fell at the Kreissparkasse Köln.

The relocation of the headquarters of the sweet manufacturer Haribo to Grafschaft means the number of employees in the IHK chamber district has significantly decreased from 1275 to 728.

At Carl Knauber Holding, the number of employees in Bonn and the Rhine-Sieg district fell from 559 to 495. One reason is the modernisation of the logistics process the company is striving for.

Public sector stable

The public sector has an important role to play in the region. The employment situation here is relatively stable.

According to government information, federal ministries had 6300 posts in Bonn this summer, around the same as the previous summer. The United Nations continues to have around 1000 employees in Bonn. The University Hospital (UKB) currently employs more than 8000 staff. At the end of last year, the University of Bonn (excluding the Faculty of Medicine and the University Hospital) had 4682 employees, exactly one less than a year before. 6950 employees work for the Bonn City Council. This is 69 more than the previous year.

(Original text: Claudia Mahnke. Translation: kc)