Germany is facing a shortage of skilled workers | Hacker News Reader

Germany is facing a shortage of skilled workers

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3 pointsMITfather12 comments

For as long as I can remember, industry and politics have always complained that there are too few skilled workers---even in times of high unemployment. In most cases, however, this is simply a reflection of the fact that companies or institutions are not prepared to pay higher wages and that too few capable individuals are being trained by them.

For example, qualified professionals in Switzerland earn 30 to 50% more than in Germany and pay less tax. If you commute from Germany, you are also not subject to the higher cost of living in Switzerland.

In 2022, for example, there were 39,222 doctors in Switzerland, 38.4 per cent of whom were from abroad, and of these, 51.8 per cent were from Germany, i.e. 7,802 doctors.[1] Of course, this alone does not explain the shortage of doctors in Germany, but it does contribute significantly to it. Added to this is the lack of training over decades. There are currently around 12,000 medical graduates per year in Germany. Before reunification, there were 13,500 in Germany (East and West combined). In the intervening period, the number fell to a minimum of around 10,000.[2] And that in a degree programme that is highly sought after.

[1] Source: https://aerztestellen.aerzteblatt.de/de/redaktion/arbeiten-d...

[2] Source: https://www.aerztezeitung.de/Wirtschaft/Zank-um-Zahl-der-Stu...

There is a level of aptitude involved and not many people have it.

How is this possible? chatgpt says that more than 7 million people imigrated to Germany in the past 5 years. Wouldn't that be enough to fill a hundred thousand positions?

Prolly most are unskilled or semi skilled.

People also leave Germany

Is this a case of them not letting people apply and therefore they are finding it hard to find applicants?

Shortage of skilled workers

"Must have 5 years experience in blah" kind of thing? But then you look for 4, 3, 2, 1 years of experience positions and its... now what? so you look for other roles so you can jump from one to another. Thats the candidate side to hiring. chicken an egg deal.

Been on both sides of hiring.

On the hiring side, I no longer believe in skills shortages unless there's obvious particulars. Especially when I don't see those complaining doing any human development around the issue so I rapidly roll my eyes. I've hired people with 1 year experience and gotten better applicants than 3 years. Its becoming clear we can vet people within a month. Much cheaper to bulk hire then let them go as they wash out. Oddly enough they can wash out and still often be transferred elsewhere internally with good results. Hiring for human skills like work attitude and the person's ability to execute has its benefits.

I've seen so many ads for senior this or that but nothing for juniors. So when I see "we can't find skilled people" complaints I'm no longer as forgiving as I otherwise would be.

Of course this opinion is based on my direct experience so others will likely not agree.

Sooo... i know a few of ukrainian refugees on germany. They waited for over a year to get work permit...

They need to upgrade their skills

A Ukrainian refugee is permitted to work immediately after confirmation of their refugee status, which usually occurs within a short period of time. The duration of recognition of specific work qualifications is the problem.

Maybe today, but first few years it wasn't like that.

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