 After 1973, Germany was hard hit by a worldwide economic crisis, soaring oil prices, and increasing unemployment, which jumped from 300,000 in 1973 to 1.1 million in 1975.The Ruhr region was hardest hit, as the easy-to-reach coal mines became exhausted, and German coal was no longer competitive.Likewise the Ruhr steel industry went into sharp decline, as its prices were undercut by lower-cost suppliers such as Japan.