Where Skilled Workers Are Needed Most—Amid Germany’s Economic Crisis

Despite the ongoing economic crisis, demand for skilled workers in key sectors remains high. An analysis of Stepstone.de job postings shows significant growth in professions like logistics, skilled trades, and IT. As Germany navigates economic challenges, securing skilled workers in these critical areas remains essential.

In 2024, more than four times as many warehouse logistics specialists were needed as in 2019, while the demand for professional drivers has more than tripled in the last five years. At the same time, demand is also increasing in the skilled trades, for example painters (+279%) or highly specialized jobs in IT, for example IT security specialists (+196%).

“More people are working in Germany than ever before. Nevertheless, there is a huge demand for workers in many professions. These areas are key to Germany’s competitiveness in the coming years. It is essential to inspire, attract and retain the right skilled workers for these critical jobs,” says Tobias Zimmermann, labor market expert at The Stepstone Group. The respective focus reports* from Stepstone now show how the search for skilled workers in the logistics, skilled trades, healthcare and IT professions can be successful and what salaries can be achieved.

Many are looking for jobs: bottleneck professions benefit

The prospects of finding new employees are good: 63% of employees surveyed currently think about changing jobs at least once a month, according to the Stepstone job market survey**. For two thirds of those surveyed, salary is one of the most important decision-making criteria – for more than a quarter, it is job security.

Supply and demand for employee benefits often do not match

In the competition for skilled workers, companies are increasingly being asked to emphasize additional financial and non-financial employer benefits. But the Stepstone focus reports show: There is often a gap between desire and reality.

For example, while more than three quarters of employees in the skilled trades would like to receive further professional training, only 30 percent of companies explicitly mention this in their job advertisements.

For employees in the healthcare sector, offers for their own health, for example sports offers, are important (58 percent), but only four percent of employers mention such offers in their job advertisements – according to the evaluation of job advertisements on Stepstone.de.

Jobs advertised by companies on Stepstone.de with high demand***

Logistics

Craft

Health

IT

***Data basis: Number of job advertisements 2019 compared to 2024 from companies on Stepstone.de, selection

* About the Stepstone Focus Reports 2025

The Stepstone Focus Reports offer detailed insights into the occupational groups that will continue to be particularly affected by the shortage of skilled workers in 2025: logistics, skilled trades, healthcare and IT. The focus is on occupational group-specific salaries, salary transparency, workplace factors, employee benefits and the willingness to change jobs and the reasons for this. Employers receive valuable information to better understand the expectations of potential candidates. This allows them to optimize their recruiting strategies and target specialists in high-demand jobs more effectively. The data is based on the Stepstone Salary Report 2025, the Job & Salary 2024/2025 and The Age Advantage 2024 studies, as well as the Hiring Trends Index study series and Stepstone analyses.

** About the Hiring Trends Index study

The “Hiring Trends Index” study series is a quarterly survey conducted by The Stepstone Group. For this purpose, 6,300 German employees and 700 recruiters were surveyed online between January 9 and 20, 2025. The current survey examined, among other things, employees’ willingness to look for a new job, their experience in previous application processes, and the topic of career changes. The results for employees are representative of the German working population in terms of age, gender and education.

Please also read the following articles:

• The Downturn in the German Labor Market Continues
• Germany: Number of Vacancies Falls for the Seventh Consecutive Quarter
• Strategies to Navigate the Recession: New Ways for HR