In many sectors in Germany, there is a lack of qualified personnel. The Centre of Competence for Securing Skilled Workers (KOFA) of the employer-related German Economic Institute (IW) has published a new study on this topic.

According to the calculations, the sector most affected is healthcare. According to the study, the greatest bottlenecks in this sector are in the field of physiotherapy, with almost 11,600 unfilled positions. For dental assistants, the figure is 7,350, and for healthcare and nursing, 7,100.

The construction industry comes in second. Here, around 42,000 jobs cannot be filled in the area of preparatory construction site work, construction installation and other finishing trades. A particularly large number of these were in electrical engineering for the construction industry (10,350) and in plumbing, heating and air conditioning (8,700).

These are followed by public administration in Germany, social work and education, childcare and defence, i.e. the armed forces. In total, 41,250 skilled workers are needed there. In fourth and fifth place in the ranking are the retail (29,800) and social services (28,000) sectors – not including homes.