The healthcare sector in Germany is the hardest hit by the current acute shortage of skilled workers, a new study said. Nearly 47,400 job vacancies could not be filled with qualified applicants in 2023-2024, said the research conducted by the Center for Competitiveness for the Employment of Skilled Workers of the German Institute for Economics. The biggest shortage is for physiotherapists, with almost 1,600 vacancies. The shortage of dental assistants is 7,350, and 7,100 vacancies are for healthcare personnel and nurses.
“The aging population is leading to an increase in demand for healthcare services. This increase is a burden on currently qualified workers,” the study authors said.
In previous years, the healthcare sector in Germany was also the first in terms of a shortage of qualified workers. Meanwhile, across all industries from July 2023 to June 2024, there was an average shortage of over 530,000 skilled workers. The second sector with the largest shortage of workers is construction with around 42,000 new jobs. Meanwhile, 10,350 job vacancies, the study said, were in electrical installations.