Which skilled workers does Germany really need?
Germany appears to have overcome the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. The country’s economy has also adjusted to the war in Ukraine and its unexpected costs. Even the latent banking crisis in the US and Switzerland has not spread to Europe’s largest economy. The dreaded recession was averted and the job market is stable.
Still, there are problems looming, and two recent studies have looked in detail at an interesting issue: Germany’s lack of skilled workers. In its December 2022 Skilled Work Report, the German Economic Institute (IW) in Cologne found that the skilled worker gap had narrowed somewhat in previous months. But overall “it remains at a high level”.
Separately, the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) came to the conclusion in its 2022 skilled worker report that “the shortage of skilled workers is increasing” when taking into account all of last year.
Lack of manpower in almost all areas
Labor market expert Stefan Hardege of DIHK points out that the shortage of skilled workers is no longer industry-specific as it was in the past. “Now it’s a problem that exists across industries. A wide range of occupations are affected,” he told DW. Above all, train drivers and people who control and monitor traffic on the tracks are currently in demand.
Sabine Köhne-Finster, co-author of the IW study and consultant to the Competence Center for Skilled Workers (KOFA), sees other areas that need skilled workers. The social sector was severely affected. There is a shortage of “education professionals, social workers, preschool teachers. The biggest gap is for seniors and nursing workers,” she said.
In other areas, such as metallurgy and electricity, not only is there a lack of qualified labor, but there is also a lack of specialists and people with university degrees. “Most people are missing there and the situation is getting worse,” he concluded.
A work-in-progress paradox
Stefan Hardege points to a paradox noted for years. “When you look at the 2.5 million unemployed in Germany and you see all these vacancies, the question arises why they don’t cancel out.” His response: “Often we see that the qualifications of the unemployed do not match the qualifications that companies are looking for.”
In the past, the unemployed were accused of being poorly trained or just plain lazy. In addition, many young people no longer want to work eight hours a day.
According to Hardege, workers are currently in a good position because they are in high demand and can ask for better working conditions or higher wages. However, this is by no means the cause of the scarcity. “I have no evidence that this is now the general problem,” he said.
Source: DW
Lori Barajas is an accomplished journalist, known for her insightful and thought-provoking writing on economy. She currently works as a writer at 247 news reel. With a passion for understanding the economy, Lori’s writing delves deep into the financial issues that matter most, providing readers with a unique perspective on current events.