Digitization and automation could be the “key” to tackling Germany’s labor shortage crisis as its population ages.

Despite a 5.5% unemployment rate, more than half of German businesses said they were having a hard time finding skilled workers to fill jobs, according to reports from German chambers of commerce.

Chancellor Olaf Soltz made this a priority when he replaced Angela Merkel in November 2021.

“We need to increase productivity through technology,” Steffen Campeter, executive director of the Confederation of German Employers’ Associations, told CNBC.

About 37% of Germans believe that technological change will increase their productivity in 2018, according to a Gallup poll. Only 1% said they would reduce performance and 62% said the technology would have no impact.

The analytics firm’s research also found that Germans are not afraid of robots “stealing” their jobs.

Europe’s largest economy also has the largest stock of robots on the continent, according to a 2020 European Commission report. Most of them are installed in the automotive sector, but they are also widely used in the beverage, food and electronics industries.

Hybrid future

“No one wants to leave their grandmother to a robot,” Norma Steller, head of product at German company Bionic, told CNBC. The company produces special uniforms for workers in “high-intensity” industries.

However, Steller said the healthcare sector would benefit from the addition of robots given its severe understaffing and physically demanding roles.

“In a sense, we are bridging the gap. The idea is that we keep a person with all the skills and emotions necessary for jobs, and the robot helps him,” he added.

“Digitalization also allows some tasks to be automated, giving workers the ability to perform more intelligent tasks,” says Kagri Pehlivan, CEO of robotics services provider Robot4Work.

“Offering some of the hard work to robots also allows older workers to stay longer in the workplace,” he said.

More and more older people are still working in Germany, according to the German Federal Statistical Office, with the employment rate for those aged 55 to 64 rising from 62% in 2012 to 71% in 2021.

This figure will increase as Germany aims to raise the retirement age from 65 to 67 in the coming years.

According to CNBC