Serious Absence of Skilled Workers in Germany – 400,000 Employees Required to Cover Labour Demands Annually
According to Info Migrants, companies are constantly seeking qualified workers, with some employers even being ready to hire at least 15 people at once if they applied, AtoZSerwisPlus.de reports.
“It is a worry every day. We should be welcoming the whole world with open arms, whether or not that person comes from Europe or not. Even a person’s level of German is not that important to me. If the person can work hard, I wouldn’t be particularly worried that a person can only manage a few words in Germany,” stated the company director on Germany’s public radio Deutschlandfunk.
The Institute for Employment Research reveals that Germany needs at least 400,000 skilled workers every year in order to deal with the labour shortage, with this number being potentially even high due to the war in Ukraine.
More specifically, the highest number of workers is required in the social work sector – a total of 20,578, followed by childcare (20,466) and elderly care (18,279). In addition, electricians and health care and nursing staff are required, about 16,974 and 16,839 workers.
Moreover, based on the sectors, skilled workers are required as follows:
- Heating and air conditioning technicians (14,013)
- Software engineers (13,638)
- Physiotherapy (12,060)
- Car engineers (11,771)
- Transport logistics (10,562)
However, German authorities have been looking into other solutions regarding the situation, as the Employment Minister, Hubertus Heil previously said that by better training and enabling strong integration of women in the workplace, as well as improving working conditions for this category, the situation can be improved.
Nearly 1.9 million people reached Germany last year to find work and 1.6 million of those were from EU member states like Poland, Romania and Italy. Almost 300,000 arrived from third countries, with India being the main source, followed by people from the Balkans.
In this situation of decreasing numbers of skilled workers, some countries are excelling in specific sectors. Recently, Tunisia became a source of personnel who work in the care sector, joining the list of other countries such as the Philippines, Bosnia Herzegovina and Vietnam. Since 2013, nearly 4,000 people have been recruited in “Triple Win”, a specialised recruitment programme and half of those workers came from the Philippines to work in elderly care homes and hospitals.
