According to the Bitkom survey, positions for IT specialists remain unfilled on average for over seven months. 77% of those surveyed expect the situation to continue to worsen. 50% of companies hope for support from AI.
The shortage of IT specialists continues to worsen. There are currently 149.000 unfilled positions for IT experts in German companies. That's another 12.000 more than a year ago, when there were 137.000 job vacancies. These are the results of the new Bitkom study on the job market for IT specialists, for which 853 companies from all sectors were surveyed. Only during the corona pandemic in 2020 and 2021 was the continuous increase of previous years interrupted, and the number of job vacancies briefly fell below the 100.000 mark
The IT skills shortage will continue to worsen
“The shortage of IT specialists in Germany exists regardless of economic cycles and is a systemic problem in the German economy. Too few skilled workers and too much regulation are slowing down digital Germany,” says Bitkom President Dr. Ralf Wintergerst. “In addition to companies, this is increasingly affecting public administration, which absolutely needs more digital skills. The shortage of IT specialists will continue to worsen in the coming years due to demographic developments. Politicians and companies must take rapid and massive countermeasures.”
Currently, just 2 percent of companies consider the supply of IT specialists on the job market to be sufficient, compared to 8 percent a year ago. At the same time, 70 percent (2022: 74 percent) say there is a shortage of IT specialists. And with a view to the future, skepticism predominates: only 3 percent expect the shortage to decrease (2022: 2 percent), but 77 percent fear that the situation will worsen (2022: 70 percent). Already today, 6 out of 10 companies (60 percent) notice that positions for IT specialists can be filled more slowly than other positions; on average, vacant positions remain unfilled for 7,7 months. A year ago it was 7,1 months. In one in five companies (21 percent) the average is 10 to 12 months, and in 4 percent it is even more than a year.
Companies also rely on career changers
The number of graduates studying computer science increased slightly in 2022, from 32.125 to 34.385. 72.389 people recently took up such a course of study. “There are still too few young people and, above all, too few women studying computer science. And the dropout rate is permanently over 50 percent and is therefore far too high. We will not be able to meet the increasing demand for IT specialists from the universities,” said Wintergerst.
In the past twelve months, IT positions were most often filled by applicants who completed dual vocational training such as IT specialists (44 percent). 16 percent had an IT or IT-related university degree, and 17 percent started such a course of study but did not complete it. And around a quarter (23 percent) are career changers. “A lateral entry into IT is an attractive option. There are now also a variety of offers that support those interested, such as programming boot camps,” says Wintergerst.
Difficult to fill a position: salary, qualifications – but also internal reasons
Only 3 percent of companies have no problems filling IT positions. Conversely, around one in four companies (26 percent) receives virtually no applications for job offers for IT specialists. And companies face a variety of other challenges when filling vacancies. This includes applicants' salary expectations that do not match the company's established salary structure (61 percent) or the respective skills (56 percent). Applicants are often technically underqualified (46 percent) or lack the necessary soft skills (41 percent). 35 percent of companies see a lack of German language skills as a difficulty, 18 percent see a lack of foreign language skills. 11 percent have specific requirements for knowledge of the latest technologies that are not met - only 3 percent complain that applications are overqualified.
But there are also reasons that lie within the companies themselves. 40 percent admit that they cannot meet the applicants' requirements for mobile working, 29 percent require a willingness to travel or move. Around a fifth (19 percent) of companies cannot fulfill the desire for further training, and almost as many (18 percent) find that they make their personnel decisions too slowly.
And 6 percent think the applicants are too old. “In view of the tense situation on the labor market, companies must make more effort and, for example, accelerate their internal application and decision-making processes. This can help individual companies, but it in no way solves the problem of a shortage of skilled workers,” says Wintergerst. “Politicians can and must do more here, for example by allowing older employees to stay in their jobs longer beyond the age limit through incentives and unbureaucratic work.”
Companies are increasing their training efforts for IT specialists
Given the difficult job market for IT specialists, companies are increasingly focusing on further training. 54 percent have a central training strategy to impart digital skills. In 2017 it was only 37 percent. And even 67 percent train their own employees in these areas, which is almost double in the last six years (2017: 37 percent). A clear majority of 70 percent say that companies themselves are responsible for further training their employees on digital topics.
However, 34 percent also state that employees are not interested in relevant further training. 34 percent also say they don't have the time for it, and 22 percent say they cannot afford such further training. 31 percent complain that the range of further training courses is too confusing. “Further training and the teaching of digital skills should not be a nice to have in companies. If you want to make your company fit for the future, you have to free up the time and provide the financial resources. Politics could and should help here with more flexible funding models and, in particular, targeted support for small and medium-sized companies. But the employees are also required to accept the offers,” says Wintergerst.
Recruiting abroad: Too little information, too much bureaucracy
Recruiting IT specialists from abroad is only an issue for a fifth of companies (22 percent). Since the Skilled Immigration Act was introduced in 2020, just 8 percent have tried this, and a further 14 percent can imagine it in the future. Those companies that have recruited abroad complain about too little information about the immigration process (75 percent) and a very high level of bureaucratic effort (67 percent). 44 percent say it took too long to get a visa, and 8 percent said their visa was rejected. A quarter (24 percent) see applicants' lack of German language skills as a problem and 5 percent see their qualifications as not being recognized in this country.
The IT specialists recruited abroad suffer even more from bureaucracy than the companies. 80 percent of them complain about bureaucratic hurdles. 6 out of 10 companies (62 percent) also state that their employees report xenophobia. Around half each had problems finding accommodation (47 percent) and with family reunification (46 percent).
In 30 percent of companies there are problems with linguistic or cultural integration and in one in ten (10 percent) there has been hostility in the workplace. “Germany must become an attractive immigration country. This starts with an unbureaucratic and completely digital procedure for issuing visas and quick and easy handling of domestic administrative processes. “This also includes support with integration and family reunification,” says Wintergerst. “Xenophobia and racism are not only inhumane, they also damage the German economy massively.”
Lack of IT skilled workers: Every second company has hopes for AI
Artificial intelligence may be able to help alleviate the shortage of skilled workers in the future. Around half of companies (48 percent) believe that AI can help in their own company. 4 out of 10 companies expect that almost all employees will come into contact with AI (43 percent) and that almost all activities in the company will be changed by AI (40 percent). 44 percent assume that AI will overwhelm employees in the company, and 38 percent offer appropriate further training.
Companies expect that AI will relieve employees of standard tasks (57 percent), help with individual training (51 percent) and can support IT specialists, for example with programming (42 percent). 40 percent think that AI will take over the writing of job references. A third see potential in evaluating work performance (32 percent) or pre-selecting applicants (31 percent). Around a quarter consider the use of AI to be possible in assessing workload (26 percent) and onboarding (23 percent) of new employees. Only 15 percent assume that AI cannot assist with any of these tasks.
Note on methodology:
The information is based on a survey that Bitkom Research conducted on behalf of the digital association Bitkom. 853 companies with three or more employees in Germany were surveyed by telephone. The survey took place between week 3 and week 33 of 41. The survey is representative of the overall economy
More at Bitkom-Research.de
About Bitkom
The overarching goal of Bitkom is to make Germany a leading digital location, to advance the digital transformation of the German economy and administration, to strengthen digital sovereignty and to achieve broad social participation in digital developments.
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