Federal government plans: What should help against the shortage of skilled workers

There is a massive shortage of skilled workers in Germany – in almost all areas. The federal government wants to take countermeasures. The Bundestag is now deliberating on the plans. How big is the problem – and what should help against it?

How big is the skills shortage?

By 2026, the federal government expects a skilled labor shortage of around 240,000 people. According to calculations by the Institute for Labor Market and Occupational Research (IAB), by 2035 there will even be more than seven million fewer workers.

But the problem is already big: A survey by the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) last week shows that more than half of the companies surveyed cannot fill positions, at least in part, because there is a shortage of workers. Around two million jobs are currently unfilled. As a result, an added value of almost 100 billion euros is lost.

The gap is particularly large in health and social service providers and in the logistics industry. In the hospitality industry, staff shortages led to a limited offer and reduced opening hours. The shortage is also great in the areas of electromobility or renewable energies – important transformation tasks and the competitiveness of many companies are at risk, according to the DIHK.

The staff gap is also growing in administration and in municipal companies. According to a study by management consultancy PwC, there will be a shortage of at least one million skilled workers by 2030.

Why are there not enough skilled workers?

An important reason: the baby boomers from the mid-1950s onwards are gradually retiring from working life – the baby boomers are slowly retiring.

According to the Federal Government, this has a double effect on the skilled worker situation: Jobs that become vacant cannot be filled with a sufficient number of junior staff. And due to an aging society that requires more care, more specialists are needed, for example in the areas of health, care and social affairs.

In addition to the noticeable aging of society, two other major social trends play a role in digitization and the energy transition. They require new skills and personnel. The federal government speaks of the “three big Ds”: demographics, digitization and decarbonization.

In the short term, the Corona crisis has also exacerbated the shortage. Many skilled workers in the catering and service sectors had to be laid off and are now not coming back.

What is the federal government up to?

With its skilled labor strategy, the federal government wants to improve the framework conditions for companies, businesses and public administrations. That 39-page paper was drawn up in September, and the project was approved in the cabinet in mid-October.

Central to the package of measures are more training and further education opportunities, a better work-life balance, flexible transitions to retirement and easier immigration.

How should immigration change?

Among other things, the plans of the traffic light coalition envisage the introduction of an opportunity card based on a points system for people from a non-EU country with a foreign professional qualification of at least two years to look for work. The selection criteria include language skills, professional experience, age and connection to Germany.

Work experience should be given more consideration when issuing a work visa. The qualifications acquired in the country of origin do not necessarily have to be recognized before entry. The cabinet passed a bill on this at the end of November.

What should change in the training?

Employees in Germany should be able to go into paid training. In addition, according to Labor Minister Hubertus Heil, the new further training law should provide a training guarantee for young people. Around 45,000 students left school every year without a degree. In the future, all domestic potential would have to be exploited, said Heil. The draft law should be discussed in the federal cabinet in the coming weeks and launched.

What role does pension play?

A solution to the shortage of skilled workers could also lie in the question of retirement. Chancellor Olaf Scholz initiated a debate on this in December. He wants fewer people to retire before they reach normal retirement age. Scholz also sees “potential for increase” in the proportion of women in the labor market.

According to calculations by the Federal Institute for Population Research, more and more people in Germany are retiring early. According to this, many leave the labor market at the age of 63 or 64 – and thus well before the standard retirement age.

What are the reactions from the economy?

Above all, the plans for easier immigration are welcomed. “We need people who will help us to maintain our prosperity in this country,” declared Employer President Rainer Dulger.

For the Central Association of the German Construction Industry, the opportunity card and easier immigration for experienced professionals would be “important building blocks for recruiting skilled workers in construction”. Other associations also expressed their support. The plans for further training are viewed critically. As long as the financing, the replacement for the absent employee and the question of returning to work have not been clarified, such a law cannot be made with medium-sized companies, according to the managing director of the Federal Association of Medium-sized Businesses, Markus Jerger.

In a statement, the German Trade Union Confederation emphasized that “longer working hours, a higher retirement age and the across-the-board intensified recruitment of workers from abroad” should not relieve the pressure on companies. Instead, they would have to ensure better working and training conditions.

What is the opposition criticizing?

The economic wing of the Union has presented an alternative draft to the federal government’s skilled labor strategy. The traffic light plans for recruiting foreign skilled workers would “consume resources and create new bureaucracy,” according to a paper by the SME and Economic Union available to the dpa news agency. There are better possibilities for a targeted control of labor immigration.

The leader of the AfD parliamentary group, Alice Weidel, spoke of “lax rules, a lack of controls and the most generous social benefits of all EU countries”, which primarily attract “poverty migrants”.

Even the Left does not see the solution to the problem in recruiting workers from abroad. Susanne Ferschl, member of the German Bundestag, explained that the cause was the spread of low wages and poor working conditions. What is needed above all is “a higher collective bargaining agreement, an expansion of controls on the minimum wage or a ban on temporary work and unfounded limitations”.