Editor in chief at IamExpat Media
It’s not just supply chain issues and rising prices that are holding companies in Germany back: according to a new study, a shortage of key skilled workers is also becoming a major issue.
Germany’s skilled worker shortage has worsened in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, with significant consequences for the economy.
The report cites two studies by the state development bank KfW and the German Economic Institute (IW). According to the KfW’s latest Skilled Workers Barometer, the proportion of companies in Germany that see themselves as slowed down by a lack of skilled workers on their payroll has doubled in the space of a year.
With 44 percent of businesses now saying they feel held back by a lack of workers, the figure is twice as high as in 2021 and the largest proportion recorded for this time of year since the survey began in 2011.
The IW, together with the Competence Centre for Skilled Workers (Kofa) reported recently that in March 2022 there were 558.000 vacancies for which there were no suitably qualified unemployed people in Germany - a new record. The shortage also now affects the entire labour market, rather than specific sectors.
These figures were confirmed by Holger Schwannecke of the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts, who told ARD that there “really” was a lack of sufficiently qualified specialists in multiple industries. He blamed the shortfall on the fact that currently, about 100.000 fewer young people graduate from the school system each year than 10 years ago, and that craft professions are no longer considered as prestigious as they used to be.
The KfW warned that the serious shortage of skilled workers that Germany is facing is having a significant effect which is “probably even more serious in the long-term.” Among other things, the bank called for the government to tempt more skilled professionals to immigrate to Germany.