According to research by the media‑research firm Index, the number of job offers in the automotive industry fell by 20 % over the past year.
The experts identified 86,105 listings from publicly published job ads-a decline from about 99,000 the year before and from 136,000 in 2023. The study, previewed by “Welt am Sonntag”, shows that the drop is most pronounced for positions requiring academic qualifications. Open roles in research and development, for example, slipped by 29 %.
Management posts also suffered a steep fall, down 37 %. The only area showing a clear increase is in legal and tax positions, where vacancies rose by 16 %.
Regionally, the sharpest reductions came in Bavaria (32 % fall) and Baden‑Württemberg (22 % drop). The industry has been attracting more people outside the traditional automotive hubs, with a noticeable uptick in cities such as Hamburg and Frankfurt.