Is the SME sector suffering from an increasing shortage of qualified workers?

Labor market

Is the SME sector suffering from an increasing shortage of qualified workers?

.The brains, hearts and hands of the workforce are some of the most important production factors in Germany, a country with a deficit in natural resources.

.Demographic developments enforce the bottleneck of skilled labor – especially among SMEs in rural regions. What is needed is targeted recruitment from abroad and more intensive training, including in digital skills.

.In an EU comparison (and also in comparison with large German companies), SMEs lack specialists in information and communications technology (ICT). Thus, there is a lack of expertise in an area that is highly relevant for a modern economy.

Companies with ICT specialists in an EU comparison

Source: IfM Bonn (2019b)

SME (Germany) 17 %

SME (EU average) 19 %

Large companies (Germany) 77 %

Large companies (EU average) 75 %

0 % 25 % 50 % 75 % 100 %