Overview
- Only 37% of Saxon craft firms rate their current business situation as good, according to the Sächsischer Handwerkstag’s September survey of about 1,300 companies.
- Expectations have darkened further, with 44% anticipating a deterioration in the coming months and three in ten recently reporting falling revenues, especially among suppliers and service providers.
- Industry leaders cite high levies, energy and labor costs, hesitant private customers, and poor planning certainty as pressures keeping investment at low levels.
- Trade associations urge quick implementation of the announced Bau-Turbo to speed building permits alongside broader relief on charges, lighter bureaucracy, and stronger outreach to recruit young people.
- Nationally, a DIHK poll finds only 15% of firms expect improvement, just one in five plan higher investment while one in three plan cuts, and 56% name labor costs as a top business risk.