The shortage of skilled workers in the labor market is at a new all-time high, according to researchers. Figures from the competence center for securing skilled workers (Kofa) of the employer-related Institute of German Economics (IW) reveal that an average of 67,924 jobs were vacant in the IT sector in 2022 – the highest number since the start of observation in 2010. However, there were only 27,136 unemployed with an IT qualification, resulting in a significant skills gap.
The Kofa researchers reported that the increasing expansion of the digital infrastructure in all sectors of the economy is also adding to the need for qualified specialists. Since 2015, not all jobs in IT professions can be filled with qualified unemployed people, and the number of vacancies has been increasing significantly since 2021, despite a temporary decrease during the pandemic.
There is a particular shortage of experts with university degrees, and almost 34,000 skilled workers were missing in this category last year alone. According to Kofa, there were no suitably qualified unemployed for eight out of ten vacancies at this qualification level. The gap is somewhat smaller for lower qualification levels, with around 5,600 specialists missing at the level of a further training qualification as a technician or business administrator, and around 2,200 with a completed vocational training. In the field as a whole, employers were recently unable to fill five out of ten vacancies.
The Kofa experts emphasized that this gap in the labor market cannot be closed in the short to medium term even by graduates. The number of students in the fields of mathematics, computer science, natural sciences, and technology in the first university semesters has decreased in recent years, and a further decline in the number of graduates is expected.
One way for companies to combat the shortage of skilled workers in the IT sector is to recruit skilled workers from abroad. A promising strategy is also to give career changers from other professional groups and climbers from lower qualification levels a chance.
The Bitkom industry association estimates a larger gap than Kofa in its regular evaluations of the shortage of skilled workers, estimating the shortage at 137,000 skilled workers. The difference is due to the methods used, with Bitkom utilizing data from company surveys instead of official data from the Federal Employment Agency.
