Shortage of skilled workers: Many can now choose their job

Exclusive

The balance of power in the labor market has been shifting for years. Employers have to compete for the favor of applicants, employees can sometimes dictate their conditions. And even the currently weakening economy does not change anything – companies are still desperately looking for suitable specialists.

Many employees are well aware of their new position of power. This is underlined by a new study, for which specialists with completed vocational training were interviewed. According to this, a good half of those surveyed have the feeling that they can currently choose their job. The view among employees in the care sector is particularly pronounced – here, a good 74 percent believe it.

For the representative study, 3,000 people were interviewed by the market research institute Bilendi on behalf of the online portal Meinestadt.de, the results are exclusively available.

The current shortage of skilled workers was underlined in December 2022, for example, by a report by the competence center for securing skilled workers, according to which 1.2 million positions for qualified workers were unfilled across Germany. In the coming years, the problem will become even more acute as a result of demographic change. The early summer economic survey by the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) recently showed that the shortage of skilled workers is becoming an ever greater business risk for companies. According to the DIHK, most people are looking for rail transport, where strikes have recently become more regular and extreme.

Shortage of skilled workers: Less than a third take advantage of the conditions

Other sectors that are desperately looking for skilled workers are crafts and care. Here the feeling of being able to choose the job at hand is more common than average – in the skilled trades it is 55 percent of the skilled workers. The retail and logistics sectors have the lowest proportion of employees who believe they can choose their job, at only around 40 percent.

Across all sectors, however, it is true that not even a third of skilled workers actively take advantage of the good conditions on the job market, for example to improve their careers by changing jobs. In the case of part-time employees, this proportion is not even a quarter. In logistics, 37 percent use the prerequisites and in care 42 percent. Actually, the employees could also demand much higher salaries and better working conditions here or, if necessary, change jobs. But that is exactly what the majority of respondents are still missing.

“The rather defensive application behavior is lagging behind the current conditions on the labor markets,” says Mark Hoffmann, CEO of Meinestadt.de. “The majority of skilled workers currently seem satisfied with their jobs. Employers should do everything to ensure that this remains the case.” Otherwise, the companies are still facing the actual shortage of skilled workers.

In fact, more than half of the respondents state that the term “dream job” applies to their current job. Specialists in the trades are particularly satisfied with 60 percent, and nursing professionals also come to 56 percent.

The effects of the energy crisis and inflation scare most people

At the same time, given the shrinking economy, professionals in the care and public sectors are the least concerned that their jobs will be in jeopardy. Overall, less than a quarter of those surveyed do so. Nevertheless, the economic development with the energy crisis and inflation scares almost three quarters of those surveyed across all sectors.

According to the survey, only 18 percent earn enough to be able to shoulder the additional costs of the crisis in the long term. Specialists from trade and crafts see themselves as most affected here. Only a quarter of those surveyed received support from their employer, for example in the form of bonus payments. Against this background, it is quite possible that employers will continue to face high wage demands in the future.