Worker shortages are a huge problem in Germany. The country’s workforce may peak soon in absolute terms and could shrink by up to 5m by 2030. Covid-19 has made the problem worse. Early in the pandemic, lockdowns and a recession meant that lots of German companies had too many workers, plenty of whom ended up in state-supported furlough schemes. As the economy has reopened, they find themselves with too few.
Last October 43% of firms said their business was suffering because of the lack of skilled labour, up from 23% a year earlier and the most since German reunification in 1990, according to a survey of 9,000 companies by, the state development bank, and Ifo, a think-tank. Services were hardest hit, followed by manufacturing.
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