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Labor market: price pressure and shortage of skilled workers in the skilled trades

Labor market: price pressure and shortage of skilled workers in the skilled trades

Jörg Dittrich is the head of a roofing company in Dresden, in the fourth generation. As the first East German, he now leads one of four leading associations of the German economy – in a challenging time.

Customers of craftsmen also have to be prepared for higher prices because of the increased energy costs. The lack of skilled workers could also have an increasing impact, said the new crafts president Jörg Dittrich of the German Press Agency in Berlin. This will reach a critical level in the coming years when the baby boomers retire.

“There is a risk that certain services can then no longer be offered in the trades. We absolutely have to prevent this situation from occurring through a joint effort by politicians and tradespeople.”

Will craftsmanship become unaffordable for customers?

Dittrich recently became President of the Central Association of German Crafts. “The craftsmanship is under great price pressure,” he said. Wages, energy prices and social security contributions have risen. The increased material prices also contribute to a large increase in costs. “The handicraft service is becoming more expensive because many things have become more expensive and not because the companies feel like it,” said Dittrich. “I’m concerned that the craftsmanship will become unaffordable for customers. That shouldn’t be.”

The President of the Craft Industry said he considered the concern justified that undeclared work would increase due to rising prices. “That’s why the workload has to be relieved, because the difference between the net earnings and the hourly rate with VAT is increasing.” Craftsmanship is labour-intensive and labour-intensive. That is why he expects the federal government to relieve the work factor and fundamentally reform the social security systems and their financing in a way that is future-proof and generation-fair, said Dittrich. The competitiveness of wage-intensive companies depends on the additional wage costs not getting out of hand. “But that’s exactly what’s happening right now.”

The top priority for German trade is securing skilled workers, said Dittrich. “That supersedes all other issues because it ultimately depends on whether we will be able to tackle the major transformation issues, such as climate protection, at all.”

Companies are looking for trainees

The trades are more demanding, the products and services have become significantly more complex. “Careers such as electronics technician for building system integration clearly show that handicrafts are really not about helping out or driving wheelbarrows. Rather, we need extremely good people who come out of school with good basic knowledge and skills, and who can then develop.” But that doesn’t mean that everyone who works in the trades has to have a high school diploma. The trade had recently reported that many companies were desperately looking for trainees.

Dittrich continued: “The number of school leavers is declining and this increases not only in the trades, but in all areas of the economy the pressure to give opportunities to those who previously had less of an opportunity.” Wherever possible, people with no or bad school qualifications should be brought into an apprenticeship. More women would have to be brought into employment and more long-term unemployed would have to be empowered to regain a foothold in the labor market.

What is also necessary is an “educational turnaround” towards an appreciation of vocational training that corresponds to its central importance. “Academics and practitioners are equally important for the modernization and transformation of our country.” Vocational and academic education should be treated equally financially.

Skilled workers from abroad needed

Immigration from abroad will be an important building block for solving the problem of skilled workers. But from his point of view, the innovative power is more decisive, said Dittrich. “If there are too few people, why don’t we use the innovative strength that lies in the trade itself and make even more use of the technical possibilities? For example, we are currently developing a roof robot in cooperation with a university.”

However, Dittrich conceded: “Certainly, the substitution possibilities through technology are fewer in the skilled trades than in many other sectors of the economy.” That’s a good thing, because in many places even the best technology will not be able to replace individual craftsmanship. “But we can make work physically easier through greater use of technology, such as carrying tiles to the fifth floor of an apartment building.”

Source: Stern

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