Post by MS in Germany®

Germany's Federal Employment Agency recorded a 3.8 percent unemployment rate among qualified engineers last year, almost 50 percent higher than in 2022. Employment across the German automotive sector fell 8 percent in the five years to 2025, even as total German employment grew about 1 percent. Production has settled at roughly 4 to 4.2 million vehicles a year, down from about 6 million a decade ago, according to Thomas Puls of the IW institute in Cologne. Exports to China fell almost a quarter, to 81.3 billion euros. The entry-level pipeline is where this shows first. Graduates in computer vision and software, the profiles the sector said it needed most, report 30 to 60 applications for a single interview. Anja Robert, who has led careers services at RWTH Aachen for 20 years, says the era when an application to BMW converted into a job is over. For recruiters staffing German automotive and supplier roles: the candidate market is now deep in exactly the profiles that were scarce three years ago. Volkswagen alone is reported to be weighing up to 100,000 job cuts. Reported by AFP and The Local Germany, with data from the Federal Employment Agency, Destatis and the IW Institute. #MSinGermany #LaborMarket #AutoIndustry