Despite strong sales: Start-ups in the ITC sector reach new low

New start-ups in the information and telecommunications sector have declined in Germany. This is a continuation of the previous trend, with the numbers declining since 2021. This is the result of a study conducted by the Leibniz Center for European Economic Research on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Economics. Compared to other sectors of the economy, however, the start-up rate in the ICT industry remains stable. At the same time, the number of employees rose again.

In 2023, there were just under, 6100 start-ups in the German ICT sector. The service sector accounted for around, 5950 start-ups and the hardware sector for around 150. Compared to the previous year, the figures fell by around three percent to the lowest level since the start of the period under review in 2002 and were 11 percent below the level at that time. Most recently, the number of start-ups fell after rising to a high of 21% above the 2002 level between 2016 and 2021.

The number of ICT companies declining

Despite the declining figures, there was a high number of new companies in the ICT sector compared to the economy as a whole. The start-up rate between 2021 and 2023 was 6.5%. The authors of the study define the start-up rate as the proportion of new start-ups in the total number of companies in a sector. ICT services alone achieved a value of 6.6%, the hardware sector 3.2%. The tourism sector had the highest start-up rate at 6.9%. The transport and logistics sector came in at 6.1 percent, trade at 4.7 percent and electrical and mechanical engineering at 2.1 percent.

For the first time in three years, the number of ICT companies fell slightly in 2023, declining by around one percent year-on-year to just under 100,000 businesses. Of these, around 94,000 companies belong to the ICT services sector, the number of which fell by around 1.1% between 2022 and 2023. The remaining 6,000 companies belong to the hardware sector, which grew by 0.5% in the same period. In total, ICT companies account for just under four percent of all German companies.

ICT turnover reaches new high

For 2023, the authors estimate the turnover of information and telecommunications companies at 325.1 billion euros, which is 5.9% higher than in the previous year and the highest level since 2009. In a global comparison, Germany is therefore lagging. Just under 70% of turnover was generated by ICT service providers, with the remaining share coming from the hardware sector. Turnover per employee in the ICT sector amounted to EUR 219,000 and was therefore below the unweighted average of EUR 312,000. The sector accounts for four percent of total economic turnover.

According to the researchers' estimates, the number of people employed in the ICT sector rose to just under 1.5 million in 2023. This figure includes both employees subject to social security contributions and the self-employed. Of these, almost 85% are employed in the service sector, with the remainder working in the hardware sector. Compared to the previous year's figures, this is an increase of 2.2%. On average, 15 people are employed by an ICT company, one person more than in the previous year. The authors of the study thus attest to the companies' growth. Overall, 5.5 percent of the workforce works in the ICT sector. According to a survey by the job portal Stepstone, this pays off for employees with an average of 62,000 euros.

(sfe)