German company bankruptcy rates remain low despite surging by nearly a quarter in November compared with the previous year, new figures by the Halle Institute for Economic Research show - offering hope to hawkish central bankers, for whom tight euro area labour markets make faster interest rate hikes more attractive.

Some 9,000 jobs were lost at the biggest 10% of firms going bust last month, the report states - the largest number affected in the last 12 months - as 808 partnerships and corporations became insolvent; 23% more than in November 2021, and 86 more than last month.

But an average of 1,007 partnerships and corporations were reported insolvent in November for the years 2015 to 2019, suggesting insolvency figures have been developing at a more subdued pace than many expected, IWH’s Steffen Müller said.