Half of All Companies Needed State Aid to Survive, Mannheim Study Says

The corona crisis heavily affected the German economy. In spring, the production in many places slowed down, shops and restaurants remained closed for several weeks and the demand for certain goods declined. In order to help the affected companies quickly, the government adopted a stimulus package for 130 billion euros. How did the companies receive the measures? Which measures were frequently used and which were unsuccessful? A research team of the German Business Panel (GBP) at the University of Mannheim is looking for answers to these questions and conducted a survey among 9,500 companies.

The most important results of the study: Two thirds of the companies in the survey reported that they have resorted to state aid. Nearly half of these companies (48 percent) reported that they think they would not have survived without government support.

The coronavirus immediate assistance (“Corona-Soforthilfe” (49 percent)), short-time work and short-time working compensation (26 percent) and deferral of tax payments (26 percent) were the measures most frequently used by the companies. Industries reporting higher revenue losses are using state aids more frequently. These are, for example, travel agencies, restaurant owners, beverage manufacturers, artists and creatives as well as the entertainment and recreation industries. “The data shows that the companies which needed it benefited from the government support”, says Dr. Jannis Bischof, professor at the University of Mannheim. Bischof holds the Chair of Business Administration and Accounting and is co-author of the study.