The difficulty of finding skilled workers has eased slightly for German companies, according to the latest Ifo Institute business survey. 22.7 % of firms now report a shortage of qualified staff, down from 25.8 % in October and the lowest rate in five years. Ifo researcher Klaus Wohlrabe attributes the improvement to a still‑weak economic environment, while noting that the ongoing technological evolution-especially artificial intelligence-continues to reshape the labour market.
The sharpest decline in shortages appears in transport and logistics, where the share of affected firms fell from 42.7 % to 30.6 %. Overall, about one in four service‑sector companies struggles with staffing shortfalls. Legal and tax advisors (58.4 %) and temporary‑staffing agencies (56.6 %) continue to report the highest levels of demand for skilled personnel.
Industry firms report a 16.6 % shortage of qualified workers, a modest drop of 0.5 percentage points from October. In the automobile sector and among manufacturers of electrical equipment, the figure is below 10 %; mechanical engineering firms cite a shortage of around 19 %.
Retail has seen a mild improvement: roughly 18 % of retailers say they cannot fill open positions with adequately qualified staff (21.6 % of retail outlets and 16.2 % of wholesalers). Construction, however, remains stressed, with 30.4 % of firms in the main trade experiencing shortages.
Wohlrabe cautions that the recent decline should not give the impression that structural problems have disappeared. The ageing population and a profound technological shift will likely continue to alter demand for specific skill sets.