Large German firms lacking skilled labour, excl construction
Large German firms lacking skilled labour, excl construction stood at 18.4% in Q2 2026, according to Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Eurostat and KfW Research / ifo Institute. It is one of the indicators in the Job vacancies and skilled labour shortage table (Value · Quarterly), with a complete series running from Q1 2009 to Q2 2026. The complete series with an interactive chart, free to download.
This indicator in the Job vacancies and skilled labour shortage table
| Indicator | Q2-2026 | Q1-2026 | Q4-2025 | Q3-2025 | Q2-2025 | Q1-2025 | Q4-2024 | Q3-2024 | Q2-2024 | Q1-2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Germany excluding construction | 20.5 | 22 | 25.3 | 28.2 | 27.2 | 28.4 | 32.1 | 34.2 | 35.4 | 36.8 | |
| Large enterprises, Germany excluding construction | 18.4 | 20.3 | 24.3 | 27.1 | 25.6 | 28.1 | 31.6 | 32.9 | 36.7 | 37.1 | |
| Bavaria excluding construction | 20.6 | 22.5 | 23.7 | 27.2 | 26.5 | 29.3 | 31.1 | 33.2 | 34.5 | 38 |
Understanding large German firms lacking skilled labour, excl construction
Enterprise-level survey responses from major employers outside the construction sector establish the proportion suffering operational headwinds from missing specialist talent. The coverage is restricted to large-scale corporations within manufacturing and service industries across Germany, omitting both smaller enterprises and construction businesses. Excluding construction removes site contractors and trade specialists, focusing entirely on large corporate plants, logistics hubs, and commercial offices. This narrow corporate focus provides a direct counterpart to the SME series in the same section, separating enterprise-scale staffing bottlenecks from the broader national aggregate that combines all business sizes.
Large corporate employers frequently deploy dedicated recruitment teams and internal transfers, which can absorb vacancies before they impede overall commercial output. Year-on-year comparisons between equivalent quarters offer the clearest perspective, minimizing seasonal variations linked to annual graduate hiring intakes and holiday shutdowns. Because the data measures the share of large firms experiencing hindered operations rather than the absolute number of vacancies, a single large enterprise reporting operational drag weighs the same as any other respondent in the corporate sample. The metric should not be merged with administrative vacancy statistics.
Frequently asked questions
- What defines the scope of this indicator compared to the SME series?
- This indicator tracks large corporate employers across manufacturing and services, whereas the SME series tracks small and medium-sized businesses.
- Are building companies included in this large enterprise measure?
- No, all construction and building trade contractors are excluded from this series.
- Does this series indicate how many total workers large companies need to hire?
- No, it measures the proportion of large enterprises reporting that shortages actively hinder their business operations, not the numerical volume of vacant positions.