Frankfurt – The shortage of skilled workers is posing major problems for more and more companies in the organizational area of IG Metall. The skilled trades have long complained about a lack of skilled workers and workers, and the problem has now also reached many industrial sectors. That is the result of a recent survey of more than 2,500 IG Metall works councils.
With more than 83 percent of the works councils surveyed, a clear majority confirms that it is at least partially difficult to find enough suitable specialists and workers. More than a third (36 percent) even report major problems in their area. The situation in the skilled trades is particularly urgent: here, half of those surveyed consider the problem to be major. In other sectors such as mechanical engineering, vehicle construction or electrical engineering, the figure is around a third.
“The shortage of skilled workers and workers has spread across the industry and is now affecting – to a lesser extent – every sector. It is high time that employers adapt to this new normal and react to it with suitable instruments,” says Jörg Hofmann, First Chairman of IG Metall. In any case, working longer and harder is not an appropriate answer to this challenge. Rather, it is a question of adapting working conditions and working hours more closely to the needs of employees in order to become more attractive as an employer. “As IG Metall, we will continue to campaign for better working conditions, which also means higher wages and working hours that suit life,” says Jörg Hofmann.
In fact, 45 percent of those surveyed stated that the reasons for the shortage of skilled workers were comparatively unattractive wages and working conditions. Here, too, the craftsmanship stands out. This is not surprising: heavy physical strain, a lack of collective bargaining coverage and little social recognition have long been among the aspects that have a negative impact on working conditions in the skilled trades. Too little training (31 percent) and insufficient further training opportunities (26 percent) are also frequently cited as causes.
In order to counteract the shortage of skilled workers effectively, from the point of view of IG Metall, politics is also required: Better childcare is needed to increase employment, especially among women, better integration and further training opportunities for the unemployed and fair immigration of skilled workers.
While the skilled labor situation is assessed as difficult across all sectors, the view of the company’s economic situation is predominantly positive. 70 percent of the companies rate the prospects for the coming six months as good or very good. In autumn 2022 this was still 63 percent.
A good three quarters of the companies report that the figures for capacity utilization (76 percent), order backlog (81 percent) and incoming orders (74 percent) are still good or very good. The same applies to sales (73 percent), while the situation with profits and investments is rather mixed. According to the survey, only 2 percent of the companies in the organizational area of IG Metall have a high to acute risk of insolvency for the next three months.
All in all, the cautious optimism of the past few months has strengthened further, and the outlook for the economic situation is also assessed as good. While German industry and the branches of IG Metall are certainly facing great uncertainties and challenges, all in all, confidence dominates in the companies.
From March 20 to April 6, 2023, IG Metall surveyed employee representatives from 2,508 companies nationwide. These companies represent an employment volume totaling 1.2 million employees. Around 70 percent of the companies can be assigned to the metal and electrical sector.