You can currently feel the shortage of skilled workers, for example, if you want to have a solar power system including a heat pump installed in your house. In many places, the search for an energy consultant for planning is a test of patience, people are in high demand. The search for an electrical and heating company is likely to be at least as exhausting afterwards, because many companies are also looking for employees in this sector – and cannot find them.
If you look at the German economy as a whole, the shortage of skilled workers has worsened. That is the result of a survey of almost 22,000 companies by the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK), which was presented in Berlin on Thursday. More than half of the companies, 53 percent, were therefore unable to fill vacancies in the long term in 2022. This is a further aggravation of the situation compared to the previous year, when 51 percent complained – and a record value.
“We assume that around two million jobs will remain vacant in Germany,” said the deputy DIHK general manager, Achim Dercks. This means that the country is missing out on a possible added value of almost 100 billion euros. “Many vacancies are an additional burden for all of us,” said Dercks, referring to challenges such as high energy prices and increased national debt. The lack of skilled workers also endangers the success of important future political tasks such as digitization, expansion of railway lines or the energy transition – such as with the aforementioned solar power system.
The shortage has also reached the big companies
According to the DIHK, small and medium-sized companies used to have difficulties finding suitable people. “In the meantime, that has also reached the big ones,” said Dercks. People in training occupations are particularly sought after, with almost half (48 percent) of the companies reporting difficulties in filling vacancies. Almost 40 percent do not succeed in recruiting trainees as desired. The futile search for university graduates is somewhat smaller, but still noticeable; Many companies (31 percent) can no longer even hire people who have not completed vocational training and who are often employed for simple jobs.
What could help? Almost half of the companies mention the strengthening of vocational training – for example more advertising for apprenticeships and more investments in vocational schools. A good third hopes that it will be easier to recruit skilled workers and workers from abroad. The traffic light coalition has already drafted a law on this, which Dercks welcomed. In the case of the unemployed in the country, however, Dercks sees the possibilities largely exhausted. “Those who have no barriers to placement are now in the companies,” he says. Obstacles to placement on the labor market include, for example, illnesses, small children that need to be looked after or a lack of German language skills.
However, most frequently, at 52 percent, entrepreneurs long for a reduction in bureaucracy. According to this logic, obligations, for example to document or report processes, tie up personnel that are urgently needed for the actual operational tasks. In addition, state procedures would have to be faster. “You absolutely have to speed up the visa process – sometimes you have to wait a year for a visa appointment,” said Dercks.
The desire to reduce bureaucracy is one of the timeless demands of companies, but the debate usually becomes controversial when it comes to which specific regulation should be abolished. Business representatives are currently resisting the nationwide recording of working hours, which the Federal Labor Court demanded in a judgment in the fall. On the one hand, this entails more bureaucracy – but on the other hand, it should contribute to the fact that a larger part of the many millions of unpaid overtime hours per year will be paid in the future.