Skills shortages persist despite the economic downturn

The number of occupations facing a skills shortage fell again in 2025, but remains at a high level. This is evident from the annual analysis of skills shortages carried out by the Federal Employment Agency of Germany (BA). The Federal Employment Agency’s statistics for 2025 show 157 occupational categories with skills shortages – six fewer than in the previous year.

“Even though the number of occupations facing labour shortages has fallen slightly once again, ensuring a sufficient supply of skilled workers remains a key challenge. The labour market is currently being shaped by the economic downturn – but demographic change will transform it in the long term. In many sectors facing labour shortages, foreign workers are already indispensable. Immigration will therefore continue to grow in importance for our labour market", emphasises Andrea Nahles, Chair of the Executive Board of the Federal Employment Agency of Germany.

In 2025, the occupations with the most severe labour shortages continued to be, above all, care and healthcare professions; there were also shortages in the construction and skilled trades sectors. We are also looking for cooks, professional drivers and nursery teachers. Unlike in the previous year, in 2025, amongst other things, no bottlenecks were observed in metal machining, IT sales or software development. By contrast, new or recurring shortages have emerged in fields such as surveying and social work or social pedagogy.

Foreign workers are becoming increasingly important in sectors facing labour shortages

Demographic change is increasingly altering the labour supply. More and more workers are reaching retirement age, whilst fewer younger workers are coming through to replace them. Immigration helps to cushion the impact of this trend.

This is particularly evident in sectors facing labour shortages: the proportion of foreign workers in these sectors has doubled since 2014, rising from seven per cent to around 14 per cent. Whilst the number of German workers in many skilled occupations is declining due to demographic factors, foreign workers are offsetting these declines, at least in part.

The growing importance of foreign workers is particularly evident in the care sector. Compared with June 2024, the number of employees of German nationality has fallen by 5,000, whilst the number of employees of foreign nationality has risen by 46,000. Hospitals and care homes are therefore increasingly reliant on foreign specialists to ensure that care services continue to be provided.

One in every two vacancies advertised is for shortage occupations

On an annual average, around 402,000 jobs subject to social insurance contributions for skilled workers, specialists and experts were registered in 2025. A large proportion of this was in occupations facing labour shortages. At the same time, only around one in five unemployed specialists was looking for work in a sector facing a skills shortage.

The figures highlight the mismatch in the labour market: the supply of and demand for labour often do not align in terms of qualifications, occupation or region. Whilst the weak economy is currently dampening demand for new staff, demographic change will, in the longer term, lead to a shortage of specialists in many professions.

Wichtig:Methodology and interactive analyses
The statistics department of the Federal Employment Agency of Germany publishes the results of the labour market bottleneck analysis in an interactive web application (only available in German). Here you will find an overview of all occupations facing labour shortages, their trends over time, a regional breakdown by federal state, and much more.
The accompanying methodology report (only available in German) can be found in the document “Bottleneck Analysis – Methodological Development”.