DEKRA 2018 German Job Market Report:

IT Runs the Title Race

Jun 15, 2018

The World Cup lasts exactly 32 days. By contrast, last year, it took an average of 102 days to fill a vacancy in Germany. Many employers seeking new employees can only dream of a vacancy lasting such a short amount of time. The situation in the area of IT may be of particular concern for them: This field of activity had the largest share in the job market for the first time this spring. By contrast, the situation for classic engineering disciplines has winded down somewhat. Mechanical and electrical engineers fell to twelfth place. The first ten places in the job market are by no means reserved for professions that require a degree. Electronics technicians can be found here as well as health-care professionals, production assistants and sales staff.

For the first time, careers in IT have the largest share in the job market
Software developers are the most sought-after professionals
Mechanical and electrical engineers falling behind
Climbers: IT consultants as well as architects and construction engineers

For the DEKRA 2018 German Job Market Report, 12,966 job vacancies that companies announced at the end of February were evaluated. Apart from that, the requirements in the areas of facility management and IT security were a particular focus this year. Selected logistics specialists provided an insight on the state of “New Work in Logistics” in a supplementary report.

IT ousting engineers

Significantly more than one in ten candidates being sought finds a new field of activity in the area of IT (13.1%). Within the IT careers, the demand for software developers and IT consultants is particularly great. Both are further ahead in the career rankings than ever before. The latter has jumped into the top ten for the first time. IT consultants are probably benefiting from that fact that the optimization of processes through new technologies is currently right at the top of the agenda for companies; this means there is a great need for consulting. Furthermore, system administrators have significantly more job offers to choose from: A good one in ten job vacancies in the area of IT is aimed toward them (2017: 6.9%). Careers in IT have pushed the sales consulting/sales field of activity down to second place. This is all the more striking because this field of activity has held the first position since 2008 with just one interruption.

Architects benefiting from construction boom

This year neither mechanical engineers nor electrical engineers are found among the top ten places. They now share twelfth place. This is a novelty for electrical engineers, who have counted among the top ten jobs since 2008. By contrast, architects and construction engineers are benefiting from the continuing construction boom. “Despite the wind-down, young people need not fear a pork cycle in engineering when choosing their career. The demand will remain high and demographics also play a part here,” says Jörg Mannsperger, Managing Director of the DEKRA Akademie commenting on the result. “In the technical careers that do not require a degree, the situation continues to escalate: Electronics technicians have been among the most sought-after specialists for years, and mechatronics technicians are also registering an all-time high within their professional field.”

Highest demand for staff in IT and sales

The careers in the sample are divided into 28 occupational field groups or fields of activity. Just under half of all job vacancies were announced in the first five fields of activity (46%). Careers in IT have the highest share in the sample by far. Likewise, employers are also regularly searching for many new employees for the area of sales consulting/sales. The fact that three sales careers are in the top ten at the same time speaks for itself. In this context, the development for call center agents is interesting: They currently hold 16th place in the ranking of jobs sought (2017: 9th place), and their share within the professional field of consulting has remained significantly under the 10% mark for the third year in a row. Presumably, the profound change in the field of activity is making an impact here, which not even the continued strong presence of sales positions in the overall sample can cover up. Companies are increasingly contacting (potential) customers using new technologies such as chats and artificial intelligence as well as augmented and virtual reality.

Positions in the area of electronics are found in seventh place and are thus further ahead than ever before since the data was first recorded (2017: 10th place). By contrast, the decrease in the share of health and social care and administration of justice is offset primarily by the above-average increase in the previous year.

A good one in ten job vacancies is aimed at applicants with leadership experience (11.5%). The share of positions with HR responsibility has thus remained stable. In particular, there are diverse job opportunities for ambitious project managers; almost one in three positions with HR responsibilities is advertised for them (32.6%). This may remain to be the case, especially if the tendency toward project work increases.

Content of the DEKRA 2018 Job Market Report:

During the core survey period from February 19 to 25, job advertisements were evaluated in eleven German daily newspapers, two online job boards and two social networks. The report which is only available in German contains the following:

An overview of the development of professions and fields of activity
An in-depth analysis of the work of IT security professionals
An in-depth analysis of the work of facility management professionals
A supplementary report on the topic of “New Work in Logistics”
Expert comments

For more information:
DEKRA Akademie GmbH
Dr. Peter Littig
Tel. +49 171-761-7400
peter.littig@dekra.com