FRANKFURT, Germany, Nov 27, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - German consumers are feeling more pessimistic heading into December due to growing uncertainty in Europe's struggling top economy and concerns about employment, a key survey showed Wednesday.

Morale has fallen sharply in the latest edition of the poll of around 2,000 people, after rising for the two previous months, said pollsters GfK and the Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions.

The forward-looking indicator slipped 4.9 points to minus 23.3 points, a level last seen in late 2023, they said in a statement.

Analysts surveyed by financial data firm FactSet had predicted a more modest fall.

The poll was conducted from late October to November 11 -- and wrapped up just days after Germany's government collapsed, paving the way for early polls in February, and Donald Trump won a thumping victory in the US presidential election.

"The last few weeks of the year will end with a significant setback in consumer sentiment," said NIM consumer expert Rolf Buerkl.

"Concerns about (jobs) in Germany are growing. Reasons for this are certainly the job cuts reported by industry and the relocation of production abroad."

A string of big industrial firms have announced job cuts, from auto supplier Bosch to steelmaker Thyssenkrupp. Meanwhile car titan Volkswagen has warned it might close factories in Germany for the first time in its history.

The survey showed a significant decline in consumers' income expectations over the next 12 months and a slight fall in their likeliness to make purchases.

When it came to expectations for the German economy over the next 12 months, pessimism deepened for the fourth month in a row.

Battling a manufacturing slowdown, weak demand and a host of other deep-rooted challenges, Germany was the only major advanced economy to shrink in 2023. 

It is on course for another contraction this year, with the government forecasting output will decline by 0.2 percent.