🚧 The labor shortage intensifies

Today's OneChart

Earlier this year, Research+Attitude and I had the chance to work with the stellar team at real Pace, a growing Venture Capital investor from Germany focused on PropTech and real estate.

One of the greatest challenges faced by the real estate industry is a shortage of labor, especially craftsmen. This is particularly true in Germany.

Did you know that Germany has a whopping 250,000 open positions for craftsman jobs it cannot fill?

Yes, it’s true.

This number makes up roughly one-third of all open positions in the country.

Why is this generation defining?

This scenario is not just playing out in Germany. Rather, there is a growing labor shortage in many developed nations and the trend is getting worse as time progresses. Has anyone been having trouble at the airport lately?!

However, the lack of technical craftsmanship is particularly pronounced in Germany and will have long-term impacts that could endanger economic growth in the future.

Let’s take some facts into consideration:

• The average waiting time for services that require manual labor, such as home-building, plumbing, and heating repairs is more than 9 weeks.
• Two-thirds of construction businesses in Germany are already limited in their capacities to accept new orders, given there is a severe shortage of skilled labor.

There seem to be only a couple of ways to mitigate this.

• First, Germany could attract skilled laborers from abroad to close the gap between the shortage of skilled workers and the demand for services. This would require an open-minded approach to immigration and resettlement.
• Second, the country can invest in technology and innovation to ensure that people working in roles that require manual labor are more productive. This could involve the purchase of more effective machinery or the onboarding of new skills, such as through training and education, as well as a push for automation.

Without these two approaches or a combination of the two, the chances to fill the gap will become increasingly dire.

The decreasing size of the labor force will continue to be unable to contend with the growing demand for construction.