(Iconic image) The shortage of skilled workers is hampering the German economy. picture alliance / Westend61 | Daniel Ingold
According to the latest KfW Skilled Labor Barometer, the shortage of skilled workers is hampering Germany’s economic development.
42 percent of the companies surveyed suffer from a shortage of skilled workers, especially in the service sector and in eastern Germany.
The economic slowdown has temporarily eased the situation slightly, but the shortage of skilled workers will remain a problem in the long term.
The lack of suitable specialist staff continues to be one of the biggest obstacles to economic development in Germany. This is the result of the current skilled labor barometer of the state banking group KfW for the first half of 2023.
42 percent of the companies surveyed suffer from a shortage of skilled workers
The greatest shortage prevails in the service sector, with eastern Germany particularly affected regionally. In Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, on the other hand, the situation is more favourable. Large companies suffer more than smaller ones. Overall, more than 42 percent of the companies surveyed complained about a shortage of skilled workers. Around three quarters of legal and tax advisors report a shortage of skilled workers.
According to the KfW study, the economic slowdown as a result of the energy and Ukraine crisis has temporarily eased the problem of skilled workers. In the long term, however, it has been shown that despite the corona crisis and the consequences of the Ukraine war, the situation is much more tense than it was in 2021.
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“Even if the proportion of companies that see their business activities hampered by a shortage of skilled workers has decreased as a result of the economic slowdown, the fact remains that the shortage of skilled workers is still hampering a large part of the economy in Germany in absolute terms and in historical comparison,” said KfW’s chief economist Fritzi Koehler-Geib.
It is currently to be expected that the economy will gradually recover from the price shock over the course of the year. “The shortage of skilled workers is likely to increase again at the end of the year if the recovery continues,” emphasized Köhler-Geib. It is urgent to address the shortage of skilled workers by increasing productivity, by mobilizing employable people in Germany and by targeted immigration. The KfW Skilled Labor Barometer is published twice a year, in early summer and autumn.
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dpa/people