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Welcome to Germany: Land of one million jobs

Tom Bristow
Tom Bristow - [email protected]
Welcome to Germany: Land of one million jobs
There was a 20 percent rise in vacancies in the manufacturing sector. Photo: DPA

Germany has more than one million job vacancies, with the number of work openings at its second highest level in almost ten years.

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Figures from the Institute for Labour Market and Employment Research (IAB) showed there were 1,057,500 job vacancies in the country at the end of 2013, up by more than 20 percent on the previous quarter.

This was the highest level since the start of 2011 and the second highest number since 2005.

Demand for workers in east Germany was at a six-year high with 187,900 vacancies.

Alexander Kubis from the IAB said: “The demand for workers at the end of 2013 remained at a high level.”

In the manufacturing and construction sectors vacancies have increased significantly compared to the same quarter last year.

The manufacturing sector saw a rise of more than 20 percent and construction jobs were up more than 50 percent.

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But in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector as well as in financial services and insurance there was a drop in advertised job openings of around a third.

At the start of February the president of the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) warned that companies were struggling to fill apprenticeship vacancies as so many young Germans were heading to university rather than into work.

“The truth is that many years of increasing student numbers in Germany have resulted in our classrooms now bursting at the seams, while companies are desperately seeking apprentices,” Eric Schweitzer said.

There are currently just under three million people registered as jobless in Germany which has an unemployment rate at 6.8 percent.

The IAB survey was based on responses from 14,000 employees.

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