Emmanuel Thomas, DPA, Monday, June 26, 2023
BERLIN – Germany’s lack of suitable skilled labour continues to be one of the biggest brakes on economic growth, a study by the state development bank KfW revealed.
The greatest shortage is in the service sector, KfW’s biannual Skilled Workers Barometer for the first half of 2023 found.
Overall, more than 42% of the companies surveyed in Europe’s biggest economy complained of a dearth of skilled workers. Around three quarters of legal firms and tax consultants were affected.
In general, the survey showed that large companies tend to be hit harder than smaller ones.
Areas of eastern Germany have been particularly affected, while the situation is less drastic in the country’s south-west.
According to the KfW study, the economic slowdown as a result of the energy crisis and the war in Ukraine only temporarily softened the effects of the skilled labour problem.
“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,” said KfW Chief Economist Fritzi Köhler-Geib, “in absolute terms and in historical comparison, the shortage of skilled workers is still holding back a large part of the economy in Germany.”
At present, she said, the economy is expected to gradually recover from the inflation shock as the year progresses.
“The shortage of skilled workers is likely to increase again at the end of the year if the recovery continues,” Köhler-Geib stressed.
She added that it was urgent to address the shortage through targeted immigration, increasing worker productivity and mobilizing Germans who are able to work.
KfW’s Skilled Workers Barometer is published twice a year, in early summer and in the autumn.
