According to the Chambers of Commerce, the number of manufacturing firms deleted from the registers has exceeded new registrations by more than 50,000 over the last five years. Confronted with the dual shock of globalization and technological change, the economy is beginning to react.
It would be wrong to conclude that the crisis of productivity and competitiveness of the last few years is now behind us. Productivity in industry, which fell by 3 percentage points between 2001 and 2005, rose by just over 1 point last year; in Germany, France and Spain it increased by between 3 and 6 per cent.