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Leading German concerns carry out major layoffs – thousands of employees, including highly qualified ones, are out of a job. At the same time, there is a shortage of personnel almost everywhere. What is the explanation for this paradox?
The technology concern SAP will cut 8,000 of its employees worldwide. Bosch also plans to cut at least 1,200 jobs over the next two years. Redundancies are also planned in the Volkswagen automobile concern, as well as in the pharmaceutical giant Bayer, the German public media ARD reports, and specifies that the situation is similar in the construction and banking sectors.
Old business models no longer work
“The external framework conditions are changing” – this is how the arguments for the cuts sound in most cases. And indeed: businesses and even entire industries must respond to these changes if they want to remain competitive. Politicians and investors demand that the economy be aligned with climate protection, a reflection is also given by the advancing digitalization, which not only changes the type and method of production, but also requires restructuring in terms of organization. Therefore, whole sectors are being examined – whether they are worth preserving, whether shares of the companies should be sold, or whether close cooperation with other companies should be sought in order to facilitate the development of innovations.
All this has an impact on the jobs available and on the expectations of employees’ abilities. “The world of work is becoming faster and more complex,” Juta Rump of the Ludwigshafen Employment Institute told German media. “Changes are becoming the norm and must be addressed.” The problem, however, is that there is no one-size-fits-all answer to overcoming the many challenges.
Enzo Weber of the Labor Market Institute tries to offer reassurance. “Last year, the layoffs were indeed more, but if we make a long-term comparison, the quota remains as low as it has ever been,” the economist told ARD.
A different kind of skill is being sought
What is special about the current situation is that many of the new processes run parallel and condition each other. For example, in a company specializing in internal combustion engines, there is no longer a need for highly qualified staff in this field, but there is an urgent need for workers who can produce electric cars. And well-prepared specialists are now in short supply.
The situation will worsen even more when the generation of the so-called retires in the coming years. “baby boomers”. “Purely mathematically, due to demographic reasons, by 2035 we will have 7 million fewer workers”, calculates Enzo Weber.
The situation is further complicated by the following fact: the requirements of the companies for their new employees and the qualifications of the job seekers often do not match. Even highly qualified people do not find work without problems.
“Time of unusually great chances”
In order to offer new perspectives to employees, large German concerns have created the so-called “Alliance of Chances”. The goal is to give a new opportunity through retraining to people who are no longer needed in a certain branch.
“We live in a time of unusually great chances,” says economist Enzo Weber. He is convinced that along with renewable energies, hydrogen technology, digitalization and artificial intelligence, completely new business models will emerge. “For this purpose, there will be a need for people with high technical qualifications,” says the expert.
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