Germany: Foreigners set up a third of all new firms

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Germany: Foreigners set up a third of all new firms

Foreigners are three times as likely to start a new business as Germans, according to a new study which showed that nearly a third of all new companies founded in 2009 were set up by migrants.

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The study commissioned by the Economy Ministry showed around 130,000 new companies were started in 2009 in Germany by people without German citizenship – around 30 percent of all new firms set up that year.

The number of companies started by foreigners in Germany has risen by about a quarter since 2005, the report compiled by consulting group Evers & Jung concluded, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

The report said foreigners were three times as likely to start a new company as Germans.

“New firms are lifeblood for the German economy,” German Economy Minister Philipp Rösler, told the paper.

He said it was a good sign that foreigners were choosing to become self-employed in Germany. “It brings more momentum,” he said.

A change has taken place in terms of who starts new companies and what they are, the report suggested. Read the rest on: The Local