Record employment of engineers and computer scientists

Demand higher than ever despite weak economy

According to the Federal Employment Agency, around 130,000 students complete their Bachelor’s or Master’s degrees in engineering. According to the “Ingenieurmotor” of the VDI and the Institute of the German Economy, there are currently around 126,000 vacancies, while only 29,500 engineers in Germany are unemployed. According to the study, 1.2 million engineers subject to social insurance contributions are employed in Germany – however, many of them work in jobs with no direct connection to engineering.

Reasons for increased demand

Since 2013, the number of jobs has increased by 25%. The high degree of employment is due to the rapid digitalization, which leads to new developments and thus to new tasks for engineers. New products and services are emerging, such as new forms of mobility. However, this also involves increased measures for IT security. Engineers and computer scientists are therefore assigned to the same occupational group – of the 126,000 vacancies, around 43,000 are for computer scientists.

Real developments are also contributing to increased demand. New production processes and plants require new machines and stronger networking between production sites. This has an impact on the demand for engineers, especially in the interface area between hardware and software. This requires computer scientists or engineers specializing in energy and electrical engineering. This demand will probably continue in the future, as these jobs are also in demand in the automotive and energy sectors. This will be boosted by electro mobility and the continuing demand for renewable energies and the corresponding equipment.

No job guarantee

Nevertheless, the prospect of continued high demand for engineers is no guarantee of getting a job. It is unclear how long an individual jobseeker will remain unemployed. There are several reasons why workers cannot find a job despite a sufficient number of jobs – for example, lack of mobility. Demand varies from state to state. Most engineers are sought in Bavaria with 24,700 and in Baden-Württemberg with 22,400 vacancies. In the east there are fewer vacancies due to the weak economic structure there.

However, some regions are increasingly developing upwards: In Berlin and Brandenburg, demand has risen by 33% within a few months. In North Rhine-Westphalia, on the other hand, demand is comparatively low with 21,200 vacancies and has even fallen slightly in recent months. In addition, the proportion of unemployed engineers is highest at one fifth.