Abstract
Demonstrates that due to the financial crisis in 2009 economic activity in Germany decreased at a size which has not been observed since World War II. Shows that in particular export-oriented firms in manufacturing faced a shrinking demand and therefore an underutilisation of capital and labour. However, with respect to the dramatic decrease in gross domestic product (GDP), argues that the German labour market remained to be quite robust. Compared with other countries shows that the German labour market performed much better during the crisis and the present period of recovery.