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Young woman in a start-up company (symbolic image): More cooperation desired
Photo: Maskot / Getty Images
Given the shortage of skilled workers, most start-up companies do not require their applicants to speak German. According to a new study by the digital association Bitkom, 59 percent of the companies surveyed stated that skilled workers do not necessarily have to be able to German. A good half of the start-ups in Germany (54 percent) have opted for English as their official corporate language anyway.
The figures show that young companies are desperately looking for qualified employees and are happy to look around in other countries to do so: Seven out of ten start-ups stated that they would benefit concretely from a simplified influx of qualified workers from non-European countries. 83 percent said that it would be helpful to strengthen funding programmes for cooperation between start-ups and SMEs. Likewise, 83 percent would welcome simplified, legally secure access for start-ups to public contracts.
Shortage of skilled workers in young companies
The survey was conducted on behalf of the digital association Bitkom and surveyed 203 tech start-ups from all over Germany. Although the survey is not representative due to the small number of participating companies, it does provide a meaningful picture of the mood for the start-ups – and their concerns when it comes to recruiting new employees.
According to the Bitkom survey, six out of ten start-ups (61 percent) currently have vacancies, with an average of three positions to be filled. According to the survey, most start-ups created new jobs last year. 59 percent said the number of their employees had increased. In a quarter, the number of jobs remained constant, only in a tenth jobs were cut.
mik/dpa-AFX