Overview
- The IW’s latest MINT report counts 148,500 missing workers in math, IT, natural sciences and engineering, a 27.8% drop from 205,800 a year earlier.
- Employers reported 367,600 vacancies in October against 253,885 jobseekers, with skill mismatches leaving an adjusted gap of 148,500.
- Without the stronger employment growth of foreign workers since 2012, the shortfall would be larger by about 480,600, and international MINT students rose to 189,000 by winter 2022/23.
- Language expectations hinder hiring as roughly half of firms require advanced German skills and only about one in ten accepts limited proficiency.
- The biggest shortages are in skilled trades (93,500), with sector gaps led by energy and electrical (53,100), machinery and vehicle engineering (30,000), metal processing (28,900) and construction (25,300).