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What Germans really need to do is work harder, according to Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s just go back to working as hard as the EU average,\u201d he said at a Frankfurt conference on Wednesday, addressing the country\u2019s current economic woes, Bloomberg reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n Germany\u2019s largest company, Volkswagen, has dominated the headlines this week after it said it was considering its first-ever<\/a> factory closures. Separately, Intel, the American tech company, said it was rethinking its new German factory worth $32 billion<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n These events are the aftereffect of years of sluggish economic growth, shrinking industrial orders, and historical underinvestment. Adding to the existing tensions, the country might also see political change on the horizon, with the far-right party<\/a> Alternative for Germany gaining ground in regional elections.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sewing is right to point out the disparity in EU and German working hours. Official data<\/a> from 2023 suggest that the bloc\u2019s average weekly work time is 36.1 hours, while Germany\u2019s is only 34 hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n Other European countries exceed the regional average, such as Greece, where the workweek lasts 39.8 hours. Workers at Germany\u2019s industrial competitor, the U.S., labor for 36.4 hours<\/a> on average\u2014closer to the EU average.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sewing has led the German banking giant since 2018 and has urged policy-level changes in the past to prevent the country from becoming known as \u201cthe sick man of Europe<\/a>.\u201d Now, he says, investors are beginning to question the country\u2019s ability to fight back.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cInvestors have been telling us for more than a year that they doubt Germany\u2019s and Europe\u2019s ability to perform, and even worse, the will to perform,\u201d Sewing said. \u201cWe simply have to tell our fellow citizens that we have to do more again.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Representatives at Deutsche Bank didn\u2019t immediately return Fortune<\/em>\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n Sewing\u2019s comments come just months after the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund chief, Nicolai Tangen, pointed out that Americans<\/a> worked harder and were more ambitious than Europeans. While it\u2019s challenging to link working hours to GDP growth, they contribute to economic output and feed into worries about Europe losing its competitiveness with the U.S.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Things weren\u2019t always this way. During Germany\u2019s golden days, it was an industrial powerhouse and the engine driving the EU\u2019s growth. Its manufacturing heft could have given any other major economy a run for its money. Germany is also home to some of the biggest companies in the region, such as BMW, Volkswagen, and Siemens.\u00a0<\/p>\n But its economy<\/a> has limped through a string of crises in recent years. An energy crisis spurred by Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine has caused prices to spike, while high interest rates have held back construction activity and hurt local spending power. Germany\u2019s largest trade partner, China, hasn\u2019t rebounded from COVID-19 as hoped, contributing to its economic plateau and sparking concerns of \u201cdeindustrialization.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Other factors that have worsened Germany\u2019s condition include stagnant labor productivity, an aging workforce<\/a>, and government red tape.\u00a0<\/p>\n The country has also inadvertently fallen behind China in the car-making race it was once leading. Its key automakers initially remained tepid but eventually announced big plans to expand into electric vehicles. They have since retracted those ambitions<\/a>.<\/p>\n Germany has had a few rude awakenings. For instance, its chemicals behemoth BASF turned to China to make a whopping $10 billion investment<\/a> in a new facility instead of staying home. One of the concerns the company\u2019s then-CEO Martin Bruderm\u00fcller cited earlier was that \u201cprofitability is no longer anywhere near where it should be.\u201d The company also cut thousands of jobs.\u00a0<\/p>\n An inevitable storm is brewing, but Germany needs to capitalize on its strengths to pull itself out of the bind. It helps that some key economic factors, such as unemployment, are at bay. But there\u2019s a long way to go\u2014and if Sewing\u2019s assessment is accurate, maybe it starts with Germans working harder.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cUndoubtedly, Germany\u2019s economic contribution is vital to the EU, especially as Europe seeks to quell concerns around weaker growth,\u201d Capital Group economist Robert Lind wrote in a note<\/a> earlier this year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nWhy is Germany facing a crisis?<\/h2>\n
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