The economic importance of family businesses

Family businesses are the job engines of the German economy. In recent years, they have created more jobs than the free float DAX companies. This was revealed in a study conducted by the ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research and the Institute for SME Research (ifm) at the University of Mannheim on behalf of the Family Business Foundation.

Between 2007 and 2016, the 500 largest family businesses in Germany increased their number of employees by 23 percent to 2.54 million, according to the study published on Monday by the Center for European Economic Research (ZEW) and the Institute for SME Research (ifm). The 27 DAX companies, which are not family businesses, only achieved an increase of four percent to 1.55 million.

Worldwide, the 500 German family businesses with the highest number of employees have created many new jobs. In terms of the number of employees, more than five million people worked for these companies in 2016, which corresponds to employment growth of 27% since 2007.

In terms of turnover, the 500 companies also grew faster than the 27 DAX companies, according to the study. They increased their group-wide revenue by 36 percent in the period under review. The DAX companies achieved growth of 29 percent.