Every fourth industrial company in Germany fears for its competitiveness
According to a survey, one in four industrial companies (27 percent) in Germany fear for their competitiveness due to the ongoing staff shortages. Like the high cost of energy, the lack of skilled workers is a challenge - "perhaps even a bigger one in the medium term", explained Achim Dercks, Managing Director of the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), on Wednesday. Costs could fall again, but demographic change is here to stay for the time being.
The shortage of skilled workers is not only affecting industry, but also large parts of the economy and is now affecting almost all sectors. The survey shows that one in two of the almost 22,000 companies surveyed are at least partially unable to fill vacancies. "Only a fifth of the companies looking for staff have no problem filling vacancies," explained Dercks. Most frequently (55 percent), there was a lack of dual-trained workers.
Around eight out of ten companies (82%) expected the staff shortages to have negative consequences for their own business. 40 percent would have to restrict their range of services. Reduced opening hours, long waiting times for appointments or losses in service are "no longer a rarity", explained the DIHK.
16% of companies could invest less in Germany, while the figure is even higher in industry at 22%. Machine tool manufacturing (32%), automotive manufacturing (31%), but also medical technology (27%) and manufacturers of data processing equipment, electrical and optical products (22%) are particularly affected.
"These are alarming figures. Because the bottlenecks are jeopardizing our success in important key technologies," emphasized Dercks. The economy can only make rapid progress in important future tasks such as climate neutrality, digitalization, electromobility and healthcare if the skilled workers are available.
The DIHK survey revealed that 27% of industrial companies in Germany, each expressing concerns, believe their competitiveness is threatened due to persistent staff shortages. Furthermore, the survey indicated that almost half of the surveyed companies are struggling to fill vacancies, a challenge exacerbating the high cost of energy.
Source: www.ntv.de
