According to the findings of the economic research institutes KfW Research and Ifo, the German retail sector is also suffering from a lack of specialist staff. Accordingly, in the fourth quarter, 40.6 percent of the retail companies surveyed complained that business activities were “hindered by a lack of skilled workers”.
This is the result of the “KfW-ifo Skilled Workers Barometer” study, the results of which were published on Tuesday. It is based on a survey of around 9,000 companies from various sectors. Last week, the Competence Center for Skilled Workers (Kofa) of the German Economic Institute (IW), citing its own findings, warned of an intensification of the shortage of skilled workers in retail.
According to the KfW-ifo skilled labor barometer, the problems are even greater in the service and manufacturing sectors than in trade. In these segments, 48.2 and 42.1 percent of the companies saw their business burdened by the lack of specialist staff. Among all the companies surveyed, the share is 45.7 percent.
KfW underlines the “necessity of targeted immigration into the labor market”
KfW also emphasized that the deficits could not be eliminated by those currently looking for work: half of them were “only qualified as helpers,” according to a statement. In order to prevent an increasing burden on the overall economy in view of the aging population, KfW therefore sees “the need for targeted immigration into the labor market”.
Fritzi Köhler-Geib, the chief economist at KfW, called for appropriate measures: “Germany is facing a demographic structural change of historic dimensions,” she said in a statement. “With zero net immigration, the number of people of working age between 20 and 66 would fall by 9.3 million, or 18 percent, by 2040. Without swift and sufficient countermeasures, the shortage of skilled workers will therefore continue to increase.”
Demographic change is “so far-reaching that several levers have to be addressed simultaneously in order to secure prosperity and at the same time master the major challenges, above all the transformation to a green and digital economy,” demanded Köhler-Geib. In addition to the targeted immigration of foreign skilled workers, she also included “an increase in the labor force participation of all those who are already in Germany, namely women, older employees, those in marginal employment and the unemployed”. In addition, there is a need for “higher labor productivity that reduces the need for skilled workers where there is a lack of skilled workers,” explained the KfW expert.