According to a study, the poor economic development in Germany is causing a slight decline in the shortage of skilled workers. In June, seasonally adjusted, almost 528,000 vacancies could not have been filled with suitably qualified unemployed people, reported the Competence Center for Securing Skilled Workers (Kofa) of the employer-related Institute of the German Economy (IW). For comparison: In June 2022, the skills gap was 13.8 percent larger with a good 612,000 open positions.
Nevertheless, the skilled workers situation in Germany remains tense, the experts emphasized. Even in June 2023, a good four out of ten open positions could not have been filled due to a lack of qualified applicants. The situation remains particularly difficult in the area of “health, social affairs, teaching and education”, where around six out of ten vacancies cannot be filled mathematically. But there was also a lack of qualified job seekers for more than 50 percent of the advertised positions in the areas of “construction, architecture, surveying and building technology” as well as “raw material extraction, production and manufacturing”.
The competence center emphasized that the main reason for the slight decline in the number of vacancies for skilled workers was the declining economic development. At the same time, the number of qualified unemployed people increased by ten percent.
In many specialist areas there are hardly any qualified applicants
According to the study, the decline in vacancies was particularly strong in the professional areas of “literature, humanities, social and economic sciences, media, art, culture and design”. However, there were once again significant increases in the number of vacancies in professions that are important for achieving climate goals, such as renewable energy technology and line installation and maintenance. The result: In June, there were only 35 suitable unemployed people for every 100 open positions in renewable energy technology. When it came to installing the cable, there were only 20 qualified candidates.
While qualified specialists are still urgently needed, according to Kofa, there is a significant unemployment surplus among semi-skilled and unskilled workers, recently amounting to more than 1.1 million. In terms of numbers, the unemployment surplus is particularly large among helpers in warehousing and sales (without product specialization).
