Saxon skilled trades skeptical despite good order situation

Despite a good order situation in many business areas, Saxon craft businesses are skeptical about the future. This is the result of the autumn economic survey presented by the Saxon Crafts Day in Dresden on Thursday. According to the survey, skepticism and uncertainty about future business dominate in almost all trade groups.

According to the survey conducted in September, in which almost 1,400 craft businesses took part, almost half of them (47 percent) currently rate the business situation as good, 39 percent as satisfactory and 14 percent as poor. This means that there are hardly any deviations from the mood in last fall's survey. However, when asked about their expectations for the next quarter, only 6 percent of businesses stated that they expected the situation to improve, 64 percent expected it to remain the same and 30 percent expected it to deteriorate.

"On the one hand, private consumers are still very reluctant to make new purchases due to inflation and the fall in net wages," said Tobias Neubert, Vice President of the German Crafts Association. On the other hand, high energy and material prices and the chronic shortage of personnel are generally slowing down growth in the skilled crafts sector. "Where there is still room for improvement, there are no people, and for the rest, prices are high, to put it simply," Neubert summarized.

The mood in the Saxon skilled trades sector is particularly depressed because the main construction industry has lost traction as an economic driver for the sector, said Neubert. The restraint is particularly noticeable in new buildings. The main construction trades include the professions of bricklayers, concrete workers, roofers, tilers, carpenters and road builders.