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German report 1998
German report, RESER 1997 - Christof ELLGER and Eberhard VON
EINEM
R é s e a u
E u r o p é e n S e r v i c e s
& E s p a c e
ANNUAL REPORT ON THE PROGRESS OF RESEARCH
INTO SERVICE ACTIVITIES IN EUROPE
(1998)
- SERVICES AND INTERNATIONALISATION -
- GERMAN REPORT -
Christof ELLGER and Eberhard VON EINEM
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Table
des matières :
1) Availability of
data on services in Germany
2) The service gap hypothesis .
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I. Availability of
data on services in Germany
Lack of data is a persisting
complaint of researchers on services in Germany. The establishing of a
services statistics (by federal law) has failed once again in 1997
(Kaiser). Official data from employment statistics (on the basis of
plants), 1% sample microcensus (on the basis of households), tax
statistics (on the basis of enterprises) and cost input statistics are
all 1) at least partly incomplete, 2) not compatible in their
definition and structuring of services and 3) appear with a time-lag of
up to several years (Kaiser). That's why special surveys are important.
To assess trends in producer services growth, the Centre for European
Economic Research ZEW, Mannheim holds a quarterly panel survey on
producer service firms, interviewing ca. 4000 firms about their
economic situation, recent changes as well as their perspectives for
the near future. In 1998, Germany's producer services experienced a
year of slight slow-down of the stunning growth rates of the years
before (Kaiser). It becomes evident that producer services' growth
depends very much on growth in the whole of the economy. Since this is
slack in East Germany, producer services there have been rather
dissatisfied with their situation. In general, computer services and
consultancy fare better than technical services and waste management.
In addition to the panel survey, the ZEW has recently developed a
business cycle indicator, called service sentiment indicator", based on
figures for value added in producer services and on the results of the
panel (Kaiser).
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II. The service gap hypothesis
There is in 1998, as it was the case
in the years before, the preoccupation with the „service gap"
hypothesis, i.e. the assumption that Germany is lagging behind in the
evolution of a „service society" and that the country is - together
with Japan, and to a lesser extent also Italy - comparatively
over-industrialized. In research on this question, analysts usually
compare employment data for the US and other countries with those for
Germany. In a new paper, published in 1998, Haisken-De New et al. of
the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), who have been
supporting the non-gap hypothesis in recent years, argue that because
of Germany's service performance there has been a catching up effect,
thus narrowing the service gap in the period 1990-96. In 1997, however,
the gap has widened again.
The non-gap hypothesis has been strongly criticized by a number of
scholars. The criticism is mainly directed towards the DIW's limited
methodological approach, holding that it is insufficient to compare the
two countries solely on the basis of occupational employment shares.
Instead, the two countries' very different labour participation rates
should be taken into consideration. With Germany's employment rate
being significantly lower than that of the US economy, the resulting
patterns of sectoral and occupational shifts must be seen in a
different perspective (Baethge/Glott/Wilkens; Cornetz/Schäfer;
Grömlich/Lichtblau/Weber).
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RESER survey 2004, I.C.T. and Service relationship in the global economy
