As a rule, trained specialists who change careers to help work have to accept a drop in wages.

However, for around 15 percent of trained specialists who switch to an unskilled job in another occupational field, the average wage is higher than if they stayed in the trained profession at the specialist level, according to a study published in Nuremberg on Tuesday by the Institute for Labor Market and Occupational Research ( IAB) shows.

In training occupations in which particularly low wages are achieved, for example in personal hygiene, floristry, agriculture and animal husbandry and gastronomy, it is therefore worthwhile for some skilled workers to switch to a helper job.

According to the IAB, specialists in body care earn just under 1,700 euros and around 1,850 euros in gastronomy.

On the other hand, there are well-paid helper jobs in industry and construction, in supply and disposal and in the chemical industry.

In the last two occupational groups mentioned, the average earnings for helper activities are more than 3,000 euros.

“The fact that low wages are paid in some occupations at skilled worker level makes these occupations less attractive.

This can lead to career changes and thus to a shortage of skilled workers in the relevant sectors or further aggravate existing bottlenecks," explained IAB researcher Doris Wiethölter.

The study is based on data from the Integrated Employment Biographies (IEB).

This was used to examine the employment history of people who were employed subject to social security contributions in December 2020 and who completed in-company training between 1976 and 2019 (in East Germany between 1994 and 2019).

No mass exodus

The IAB believes that the lack of staff, which is currently noticeable in everyday life in several sectors, is probably not due to a mass exodus of workers in the sectors particularly affected by the pandemic.

Rather, fewer employment relationships subject to social security contributions have been terminated across almost all sectors than before Corona, explained Enzo Weber from the IAB.

The lack of staff was due to the fact that some companies hired fewer workers during the crisis.

"This is a result across all industries," says Weber.

According to an evaluation that he prepared together with his IAB colleague Christof Röttger, the number of jobs subject to social security contributions that ended during the crisis (May 2020 to April 2021) fell by around ten percent compared to the pre-crisis level.

Although the number rose again in spring and summer 2021, it remained below the level before the Corona crisis until November 2021.

According to the information, more recent figures were not available.

In the aviation industry, where flights across Europe are canceled or delayed precisely because of a lack of staff, according to calculations by the IAB experts, around 28 percent fewer jobs subject to social security contributions were terminated between March 2020 and December 2021 than in the pre-crisis period from March 2018 to December 2019. In the case of other services it was around 11 percent less for aviation and almost 60 percent less for cargo handling.

The explanation of the experts: During the crisis, many employers made use of short-time work and were thus able to avoid layoffs.

Many also tried to keep their people because there was a shortage of staff, Weber said.

And employees would also have refrained from layoffs because of the poor prospects on the job market.

The Federal Employment Agency also confirms this for the catering trade, where high fluctuations are otherwise typical.

During the pandemic, the risk of a professional reorientation was too great for many employees there, a spokeswoman said.

At the same time, however, there were significantly fewer newcomers from other professional fields or newcomers, for example after completing an apprenticeship or immigrating.