97,000 vacancies for engineers in August

According to the Association of German Engineers (VDI), there were about 97.000 vacancies for engineers in August. At the same time the number of jobless engineers fell below 20.000 people for the first time which is a record low according to VDI. Particularly many engineers are needed by mechanical engineering where more than 40.000 vacancies are so far not staffed.

In particular in the Federal laenders of Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia the lack of engineers is alarming. “Demographic change leads to overaged engineering staff in businesses. Engineers below the age of 35 currently form the smallest age group among engineers”, warns VDI chairman Dr. Willi Fuchs. If in the future those currently aged above 50 retire, a lack of a young generation of engineers would lead to serious problems in many companies.

According to VDI experts, in the long-run a lack of young engineers does not only put at risk the innovation potential of Germany, but also the German economy as a whole. Therefore it was important to introduce engineering classes at all schools in Germany. Also an important topic was to encourage more women to show an interest for engineering professions. Currently just 10% of all engineers are female which shows that there is a lot of young engineering potential which is not used. GERMAN

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