Germany and its ‘Lack of Young Professionals’ – Status quo
Katrin picked up the topic of demographic change. In her article she argues that older employees can be of high value for companies. She also highlights the issue of a lack of young professionals.
I want to focus on the discussion about shortage of young professionals in Germany. The goal is to bring some insight into the status quo by simply raising three questions: How big is the gap of young professionals? What are the causes of this phenomenon? What can companies and politics do to cope with this challenge?
The German labour market is characterized by an ambiguity between persistent unemployment on the one hand and the lack of young professionals on the other hand. Companies are desperately searching for new skilled employees – as stated in the latest article “Wir wollen Sie” (We want them) in the German business magazine ‘Wirtschaftswoche’. The article is based on a study undertaken by the Prognos AG which analysis future options for businesses. Their conducted research gives an answer to the first question: They forecast that there will be a lack of 5.2 Million employees on the German labour market until 2030! The majority are young professionals (Graphic)!
You can download the paper here: PDF.
This phenomenon can be explained with the shrinkage of the society in industrialized countries in general – demographic change. In short: The percentage of the elderly increases whilst the amount of potential successors decreases.
After analysing the status quo there is only one question left: What can be done to cope with this challenge?
The paper of Prognos discusses the importance of immigration. If Germany does not have immigration of a qualified labour force over the next years the gap of 5.2 Million employees will increase to a number of 7 Million. Former posts dealt with the issue of the current debate about immigration provoked by Thilo Sarrazin, see Saiid and Thomas. Furthermore, Prognos identifies 5 fields of action (Graphic).
Due to the space limitations of this post the shown fields cannot be explained in detail. I can only recommend you to read the paper, it is very interesting.
However, I would rather be interested in your opinion. Is immigration the only way to “save” Germany? What else do you think would be beneficial to solve this issue?
Thomas
Comments
7 Responses to “Germany and its ‘Lack of Young Professionals’ – Status quo”Trackbacks
Check out what others are saying...-
[…] skilled labour, which Katrin also talks about in her post. My team member Thomas argues in his post Germany and its ‘Lack of Young Professionals’ – Status quo that Immgration might be an inevitable step to solve the […]
-
[…] – We need Immigrants! I picked up a discussion by Katrin (What You Can Do For Us) and Thomas (Germany and its ‘Lack of Young Professionals’ – Status quo). For the first time I was not happy with the two opposite positions my team members took in regard […]
diiasg
Maria Thaens
Izzy
katjo2010
martinjaja
thob84
Diversity Management 
Really nice writing style and compilation of arguments. You have clearly illustrated the key aspects of this topic.
Regarding your question in the end, I think immigration is indeed a way to overcome the impacts of the demographic change in Germany. As long as Germany wants to keep up with the economic growth and therewith keep its economic position on the world markets. I also found a really interesting article on Spiegel online about ejection of foreign students after they have finished their studies in Germany. That is really a waste of capacities and of qualified academics who maybe want to stay in Germany!
Thank you Martin for your interesting comment. You have brought up another crucial point: The waste of capabilities of foreign students. I have read several articles on this topic also on Spiegel online. I was very surprised that e.g. most of our Turkish students go back to their home country because they can not find a suitable job in Germany.
I can only agree with Martin: nice compilation of arguments and graphics.
The lack of young professionals will be a problem in the future if it isn’t one already.
The areas of action pointed out by the Prognos AG are crucial aspects that need to be considered. For an idea what can be done in those areas have a look at Thomas’ and my collaborative post “This is how it all comes back together” 😉
Hey Thomas, very nice post! It is well-structured and you mixed it up perfectly using these graphics. Take a look at my latest post, I am picking up your topic! http://tinyurl.com/4ou5d9r
Great job thomas. It was all very easy to understand and follow. I enjoyed reading it and felt like it hit all the arguments i had. Keep up the good work.