According to a survey, Germany's mechanical engineers complain that the shortage of skilled workers is worsening.
The majority of the 356 HR managers surveyed in November saw bottlenecks in all employee groups with the exception of auxiliary workers, as the industry association VDMA announced on Monday in Frankfurt.
This is particularly true of academics (81 percent) and skilled workers (90 percent).
This means that the situation has worsened again, especially among skilled workers, since the survey in June.
In the course of technological change, many attractive jobs would be created in mechanical engineering over the next few years, said Hartmut Rauen, deputy chief executive of the industry association VDMA.
At the same time, many employees were retiring and would have to be replaced.
"The staff shortage must not become a brake on progress," warned Rauen.
The majority of those surveyed (82 percent) want to increase the permanent workforce in the next six months and are looking for qualified staff.
According to the information, 60 percent assume an increase of up to 5 percent.
A good 60 percent want to offer more jobs for skilled workers, i.e. for employees who have completed their training.
Almost 40 percent of the companies plan to do this for the experts - that is, academics such as engineers.
"Advancing digitization, the development of climate-friendly technologies and the mobility revolution - mechanical and plant engineering is facing enormous challenges," said Rauen.
“In order to successfully transform industry into a new age, companies need a lot of well-trained people.” The export-oriented industry with more than a million employees has been complaining about a shortage of skilled workers for some time.