German firms plan more fixed-term hiring

The survey by Randstad and the ifo institute showed 30% of companies already use fixed-term contracts. The practice is most common in industry, where 42% of firms said they use them, compared with 24% in services and 22% in retail. Large companies are far more likely than smaller ones to use fixed-term labor, with the share reaching 59% among big firms versus about 20% among small businesses.

Employers are also leaning on other flexible labor tools. Some 33% of respondents said they plan to use time-account systems more often in the coming months, 21% expect greater use of overtime and 15% are turning to outsourcing. That mix suggests German businesses are trying to preserve output while keeping fixed staffing costs in check.

The backdrop is an economy still marked by weak momentum. Forty-four percent of companies in the survey said economic pressure was the main factor shaping relations between employees and management over the past 12 months. In industry, 17% said restructuring and job cuts are changing working conditions, more than double the share in retail, while services firms cited new work models tied to higher costs and the adoption of artificial intelligence.

For investors, the message is that labor demand is becoming more cautious rather than collapsing, which can support margins in the near term but also reinforces the view that Germany’s corporate sector is not yet seeing a broad cyclical rebound. The trend also matters for wage growth, consumer spending and the pace of any recovery in domestic demand.

The next read-through will come from whether this caution spreads into broader hiring plans, and whether stronger activity or policy support can reverse the move toward more temporary labor.