Germany hiring difficulties, too few applicants
Germany hiring difficulties, too few applicants stood at 18.6% in 2025, according to Institute for Employment Research (IAB) of the Federal Employment Agency. It is one of the indicators in the Hiring difficulties table (Value · Annual), with a complete series running from 2010 to 2025. The complete series with an interactive chart, free to download.
This indicator in the Hiring difficulties table
| Indicator | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Too few applicants: Germany2 | 18.6 | 25.3 | 31.4 | 35.8 | 28.4 | 22.4 | 31.2 | 32.8 | 31.3 | 23.9 | |
| Too few applicants: West Germany | 18.2 | 25.8 | 32.1 | 36.7 | 27.8 | 21.7 | 31.1 | 32.5 | 30.6 | 23.3 | |
| Too few applicants: East Germany | 20.4 | 22.8 | 28.5 | 31.9 | 31 | 25.3 | 31.7 | 34.2 | 34.1 | 26.5 |
Understanding germany hiring difficulties, too few applicants
Numerical candidate shortages confronting employers across the entire country are mapped in this indicator, recording the proportion of difficult hires where an insufficient volume of applicants arrived. The base population consists of completed recruitment processes involving friction across all German establishments. It differs fundamentally from qualitative mismatch rows—such as those tracking qualifications, wage disputes, or working condition disagreements—by capturing sheer applicant volume shortfalls. In contrast to regional rows for West Germany and East Germany, this series consolidates establishment reports nationwide into a single federal figure.
Annual tracking filters out seasonal hiring rushes, providing a clean indicator of aggregate headcount availability across the economic cycle. Year-on-year changes reflect underlying demographic trends and overall labor market tightening from an employer perspective. A key pitfall is equating this proportion with the total count of unemployed individuals or registered vacancies; it does not measure headcounts, but rather how frequently low candidate response rates generate recruitment complications. In addition, because employers may cite applicant scarcity alongside qualification shortfalls, this percentage should not be interpreted as an exclusive category within the table.
Frequently asked questions
- Does this series measure the average number of applications received per vacancy?
- No, it measures the percentage of difficult hiring cases where employers reported receiving too few applications.
- How does this metric differ from the qualification mismatch series?
- This indicator tracks pure quantitative applicant deficits, whereas qualification rows track whether candidates met technical and educational standards.
- Does this measure include recruitments that were abandoned due to lack of applicants?
- No, the survey collects data specifically from completed recruitment procedures that ended with a hire.