Hiring difficulties due to too few applicants, East Germany
Hiring difficulties due to too few applicants, East Germany stood at 20.4% 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: Germany | 18.6 | 25.3 | 31.4 | 35.8 | 28.4 | 22.4 | 31.2 | 32.8 | 31.3 | 23.9 | |
| Too few applicants: East Germany | 20.4 | 22.8 | 28.5 | 31.9 | 31 | 25.3 | 31.7 | 34.2 | 34.1 | 26.5 | |
| 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 |
Understanding hiring difficulties due to too few applicants, East Germany
Scarcity in candidate volume across eastern workplaces is measured by this series, capturing the percentage of challenging recruitments where employers received too few applications. It covers establishments situated in the eastern federal states that finalized hiring after encountering difficulties, isolating applicant shortages from qualitative frictions like wage expectations or skill deficits. It differs from the West Germany series by reporting exclusively on eastern workplaces, and from the all-Germany total by excluding western data points.
An annual measurement schedule smooths out quarterly fluctuations in job seeker flows and school leaver registrations. Year-over-year movements demonstrate shifts in candidate availability relative to employer demand in eastern territories over the macroeconomic cycle. A key pitfall is treating this metric as an indicator of total job applications submitted across the region; it exclusively registers employer perceptions of candidate scarcity in searches that experienced friction. Furthermore, because respondents can cite multiple hurdles for each vacancy, this proportion cannot be combined with other eastern reasons to establish a cumulative total.
Frequently asked questions
- Does this series reflect candidate shortages across all eastern vacancies?
- No, the figure measures applicant scarcity specifically among completed recruitments in eastern workplaces that experienced difficulties.
- How does this indicator differ from eastern qualification mismatch data?
- This metric measures numerical deficits in applicant volume, whereas qualification data tracks skill and educational deficiencies among applicants.
- Can an establishment cite both too few applicants and excessive wage demands?
- Yes, employers are permitted to select multiple reasons for a single complicated recruitment process.