According to a study, more and more positions in the German semiconductor industry cannot be filled. “Compared to the previous year, the skills gap has increased by 30 percent, from about 62,000 to more than 82,000,” the “Rheinische Post” reports from an unpublished study by the German Economic Institute (IW). The shortage is evident in both academic and training professions.
Employees with vocational training are sought for every second unfilled position. There is currently a shortage of more than 40,000 qualified candidates, 49 percent more than the annual average for 2021/2022.
But academic professions are also affected. Every third vacancy requires experts for complex work, who usually have a master’s degree or diploma. On average, there is a shortage of around 30,000 experts for 2022/2023, compared to the previous year there is a shortage of almost 7,500 more.
“A large and rapidly growing skills gap could jeopardize the successful establishment of new chip factories and the expansion of existing sites in the semiconductor industry,” the paper quotes study author Sabine Köhne-Finster. In the near future, the demand can hardly be met by young people from education and study.
Further efforts are needed to simplify the immigration and recruitment process. The American chip giant Intel is planning a factory in Magdeburg, the Taiwanese market leader TSMC one in Dresden. The German government had promised the companies billions in financing.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
