04.09.2024
International
Demand for engineers remains very high, particularly due to the challenges posed by digitalisation and transformation. Despite a 15.6 per cent year-on-year decline in the number of vacancies, Germany continues to suffer from a severe shortage of skilled workers in engineering. The significant increase in the proportion of foreign engineers since 2012 has provided some relief, particularly in southern and eastern German states. The current shortage of employees in engineering and computer science professions is leading to an annual loss of value added of around 9 to 13 billion euros. These are the key findings of the joint engineering monitor conducted by the VDI and IW on the subject of the shortage of skilled workers and foreign employees in the German labour market.
In the first quarter of 2024, the total number of vacancies in engineering occupations fell by 15.6 percent year-on-year to 148,000, but remains at a high level. ‘The decline is certainly also due to the economic situation, in which companies are reluctant to hire new staff. Nevertheless, there are positive signals,’ says VDI Director Adrian Willig.
The bottleneck indicator (vacancies per 100 unemployed persons) remains unchanged at 333. The greatest bottlenecks are in the engineering professions in the fields of energy and electrical engineering (bottleneck ratio 558), construction/surveying/building services engineering and architecture (bottleneck ratio 433), as well as mechanical and automotive engineering (368) and computer science (303).
In particular, the immigration of foreign skilled workers (excluding refugee countries and the UK) to the German labour market has developed positively. ‘In the coming years, digitalisation and climate protection will further increase the demand for employees in engineering and computer science professions. The shortage of skilled workers can only be mitigated through a wide range of efforts. We need to get more young people and women interested in engineering careers. From batteries to wind turbines, engineers can make essential contributions to our innovation location in all areas. It is also clear that we need more engineers to immigrate to Germany, says Adrian Willig. ‘And here we are fortunately on the right track.’ This is because immigration in recent years has contributed significantly to securing skilled workers in the engineering and IT professions. From the end of 2012 to September 2023, the absolute number of foreign employees in engineering occupations rose from 46,489 to 114,648, an increase of 146.6 per cent. The percentage of foreign engineering employees in relation to all engineering employees rose from 6 per cent to 11 per cent during this period.
Of the total increase in employment in engineering professions (263,760 employees), around 26 per cent (68,159 employees) were skilled workers who had immigrated to Germany. Most of them come from India, Turkey, Italy, China, France and Spain. The average gross income of those in academic STEM professions subject to social security contributions is between €5,411 (25-44 years) and €6,750 (45+). At the same time, 13 per cent of patents registered in Germany in 2020 were filed by foreign professionals. ‘We have to make Germany even more attractive as a location by reducing bureaucratic hurdles that encourage skilled workers to come and foreign students in STEM subjects to stay,’ emphasises the VDI director.
‘The losses in value added would be significantly higher without immigration,’ adds Prof. Axel Plünnecke from the IW. “Without the high level of dynamism in the employment of foreign skilled workers in engineering and computer science occupations, the number of missing employees in these occupations and thus the loss of value added due to the shortage in engineering and computer science occupations would be a good two times higher,” he continues.
The highest proportions of foreign employees in engineering occupations are found in Bavaria, Hesse, Thuringia, Brandenburg and Berlin. ‘Particularly in the greater Munich area, which is strong in research and patents, immigration has proven to be an important factor in securing a skilled workforce,’ says Plünnecke. ‘The highest number of foreign engineers work here, at 11,681 – more than in the whole of Hesse and almost twice as many as in Lower Saxony.’ In the Munich district, 23.7 per cent of those employed in engineering are foreign nationals; Starnberg has the highest figure in the country, at 29.3 per cent.
The proportion of foreign employees is also high in other regions: the Ilm district in Thuringia has 25.1 per cent, the Main-Taunus district 23.4 per cent and the region around Frankfurt an der Oder 22.8 per cent. Six of the twelve districts/cities with the highest proportions of foreign nationals in engineering occupations subject to social security contributions are in Bavaria, three in Hesse and one each in Thuringia, Brandenburg and Berlin.
The VDI has initiated the VDI-Xpand project to support the integration of skilled workers in the world of work and society. ‘We need qualified specialists, but there are also people coming who we have to integrate into the world of work and into society. With its regional structures, the VDI offers the best conditions for networking engineers with people who have the same interests,’ says VDI labour market expert and project manager Ingo Rauhut. At the heart of VDI-Xpand is a mentoring programme that pairs immigrant engineers with an experienced VDI member. The programme, which is conducted primarily online, is supplemented by local networking events. The approach, which is funded by the nationwide ‘Integration through Qualification’ (IQ) funding programme, was successfully launched as a pilot in North Rhine-Westphalia in 2024.
In addition to these efforts, a wide range of measures is needed to get young people in Germany interested in technology and science, adds VDI Director Adrian Willig. ‘To close the skills gap, it is also important to get many more women into engineering. We regularly showcase role models in this field and support women with a targeted mentoring programme, the VDI WoMentorING,’ says Willig. ‘And it starts with the youngest. Our aim is to spark an interest in technology.’ Overall, a range of measures is needed to keep our innovation and business location competitive.