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Employees of a fan manufacturer in southern Germany
Photo: Christoph Schmidt / dpa
The situation is getting worse for mechanical and plant engineering.
Material bottlenecks and a shortage of skilled workers are increasingly weakening the backbone of the German economy, which employs more than a million people, says Ralph Wiechers, chief economist at the industry association VDMA.
A quick improvement is not in sight.
A quick survey of the 520 member companies showed that hardly anyone was expecting the situation to improve within the next three months.
“The bottlenecks are particularly persistent with electronic components.
44 percent do not see a better supply situation here until the second half of 2023," said Wiechers.
Particularly explosive in the long term: 78 percent of the companies complain about a "noticeable or serious" lack of personnel.
"60 percent of companies see demographics and the shortage of skilled workers as a major risk," explained Wiechers.
Gas shortage fuels concern
The training of the junior staff will not be sufficient to compensate for the age-related departures.
“Targeted immigration will also be necessary to reduce the labor gap.”
Meanwhile, the foreseeable gas shortage is also causing concern.
About three quarters of the companies preparing for emergencies first checked what options they have in their own company to prepare for emergencies, for example by installing electrical or oil-fired systems.
Around half of the companies see closer coordination with their own network operator as a preparatory measure, and a third have developed staggered emergency plans.
In view of the Russian attack on Ukraine, the global delivery difficulties and the strict corona lockdowns in parts of China, the German mechanical engineering companies had reduced their production targets for 2022 from plus four percent to plus one percent in May.
Even then it was said that the burdens were manifold.
beb/Reuters
