Germany's economic growth constrained by labour shortage of engineers and skilled workers

Germany's aging population and low birth rates is creating a labour shortage that is limiting Germany's economic growth.  According to the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce DIHK Germany needs 400,000 engineers, master craftsmen and skilled workers.  One of the worst areas of shortage is engineering, where according to the Association of German Engineers there are about 80,000 unfilled positions.  DIHK estimates that German economic growth has been reduced by one percent by the labour shortage and that the problem is getting worse.  Germany's unemployment rate is the lowest in Europe at close to 7 percent.  In 2009 the Federal Statistical Office reported 680 000 job vacancies and that figure may be higher in 2010.  It is estimated that Germany could be faced with a labor shortage of five million people within the next 15 years. 

But since 2008 more people have been emigrating from than immigrating into Germany and the German government is trying to reverse this trend.  On May 1, Germany and Austria opened their labor markets to citizens of the Eastern European countries that joined the EU in 2004. Last month the German government relaxed conditions for skilled workers that were seen as hindering immigration.  The federal employment agency is reportedly targetting engineers in Spain, which has the highest unemployment rate in the EU.