STEM skills shortage decreases, fewer jobs advertised

Despite the slowdown in the economy, there is a shortage of around 209,200 STEM specialists in the German labor market, according to the latest STEM Autumn Report from the Institute of German Industry (IW), which has close ties to employers. The shortage is also jeopardizing Germany's ability to innovate, the authors of the study sound the alarm. However, the sharp economic downturn this year and last year is also reflected in the ratio of vacancies to jobseekers in the STEM sector. STEM stands for the fields of mathematics, information technology, natural sciences and technology.

Broken down by sector, the greatest shortages were seen in the energy and electrical professions with around 68,600, in the mechanical and automotive engineering professions with around 41,500, in the construction professions with around 30,800, in the metalworking professions with around 30,300 and in the IT professions with around 18,700 people. Compared to the previous year, the gap shrank by 24,900, particularly in the IT occupations –. There was a decrease of 13,300 in the energy/electrical occupations, 12,300 fewer in the mechanical and automotive engineering occupations, as well as in the construction occupations (-7,000) and in the metalworking occupations (-7900).

Fewer vacancies to fill

Compared to previous years, the shortage of skilled workers has decreased significantly: in 2022, the IW reported a gap of 326,100 skilled workers in the STEM sector, compared to 280,480 in 2023. This is likely mainly due to the decreasing number of advertised positions: in 2022, the IW still counted 502,200 vacancies to be filled, compared to 476,400 in 2023. And in the STEM Autumn Report for 2024, the figure is now only 418,200.

In contrast, there are currently 226,295 people registered as unemployed who would like to pursue a STEM profession. This would result in at least 191,905 unadjusted vacancies in STEM professions that could not be filled. If false qualifications are factored out, the aforementioned labor shortage across all 36 STEM occupation categories amounts to 209,200. At around 109,100, STEM skilled workers are the largest bottleneck group, followed by around 77,700 with a university degree and around 22,300 in master craftsman and technician occupations.

Slight decline in STEM jobs

The IW also sees a slight decline in STEM jobs over the longer comparison period: The proportion of STEM employees in all employees subject to social security contributions fell from 21.4% to 20.6% between the fourth quarter of 2012 and the first quarter of 2024. Only significant growth in the area of IT jobs ensured that the decline in the overall field was small. Across all qualification levels, this area saw the largest increase in the comparison period, while other fields of work such as the chemical industry lost ground.

However, the IW is certain that STEM jobs still offer attractive working conditions, higher average wages and fewer fixed-term contracts than other professions. Especially those with a higher level of education have very good opportunities in these subjects. To counter the shortage, the IW suggests, among other things, focusing on immigration, attracting more women to the profession, retaining older workers for longer and improving STEM education.

(axk)