Germany faces escalating skilled worker shortage and economic turmoil

The study indicates that the largest gap will be among retail workers. By 2027, the retail sector will lack approximately 37,000 skilled workers, noted the RND portal.

From the perspective of IW, the pandemic has particularly deepened the worker deficit in retail. Shortages are also due to the fact that many workers changed their professional orientation during the coronavirus pandemic, stated the study’s author, Alexander Burstedde.

Overall, according to IW, shortages in many sectors are deepening. The study indicates that by 2027, various nursing professions, education, and social work will have tens of thousands of unfilled positions. The RND portal wrote that the entire country could lack 728,000 skilled workers.

According to data from the Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH), the economic slowdown has increased the number of company bankruptcies in Germany, reaching the highest level in about 10 years. In July, 1,406 cases of bankruptcies of partnerships and corporations were registered, which is an increase of 20 per cent compared to the previous month and 37 per cent more than in the same period last year. The current rate is also 46 per cent higher than the average for July 2016-2019, i.e., the period before the COVID-19 pandemic, indicated Deutsche Welle.

IWH notes that "the significant increase in the number of bankruptcies affects all sectors". Nevertheless, it is most noticeable in the manufacturing sector. In June, the number of bankruptcies in the industry was 100, which corresponded to the average of the last 12 months, but has now risen to 145.

This represents a new record since IWH-Insolvenztrend started collecting this data in January 2020. IWH also emphasises that "the most affected regions are the states of Berlin, Hesse, and Rhineland-Palatinate", we read.