Skilled Labour Market 2026
Between record shortages and industrial layoffs: what Germany's Mittelstand needs to know now. Both headlines are true at the same time, just for different industries.
- Time-to-fill and follow-on costs in the technical shortage occupations
- Regional differences by federal state, for the first time with robust data for mid-sized companies
- Four sources of skilled workers that hardly any competitor uses systematically
Skilled Labour Market
2026
Between record shortages and industrial layoffs: what the Mittelstand needs to know now.
White paper in German, August 2026
IAB Job Vacancy Survey, 2026
1.15 m
open positions across Germany in the first quarter of 2026
Federal Employment Agency, 2025
165
days a registered position stays vacant on average
DIHK Skilled Labour Report, 2025
40%+
of companies with 20 or more employees report hiring difficulties
Federal Statistical Office, 2025
−48,700
jobs in the automotive industry within a single year
Six chapters, 13 pages, no filler.
Written for HR leaders and managing directors in technical mid-sized companies. The paper is in German.
The starting point in 2026
Shortage and layoffs at the same time, and what that means for technical mid-sized companies.
Shortage occupations in detail
Time-to-fill in the technical shortage occupations and the follow-on costs of every open day.
Trends in the candidate market
What skilled workers expect in 2026, AI on both sides of the table, channels and visibility.
Untapped sources of skilled workers
Four target groups that most competitors are not yet addressing systematically.
Evaluating recruitment providers
Selection criteria, the decisive metric and the warning signs when comparing offers.
Recommendations for action
Three fields of action for HR leaders and managing directors, spelled out concretely.
Three numbers from the paper.
58%
name job security as the most important criterion when choosing an employer. Salary is down to fourth place.
Randstad Employer Brand Research 2026
66% / 13%
That is the size of the AI gap between applicants and companies. Chapter 3 shows what follows from it.
StepStone, 2025
every 2nd
SME position stayed vacant in one federal state, in another only every fifth. The comparison is in chapter 3.3.
IW Köln for KOFA, 2026
Wandel fills skilled technical and trade positions in mid-sized companies.
Field service, plumbing and heating, pipework and plant installation, electrical engineering. You do not get a candidate list or database access, but individual pre-qualified profiles of skilled workers who have already been spoken to. Your work starts at the interview.
More about Wandel
Volker Hollmichel
Founder of Wandel, previously built teams in high-growth phases at Tesla and Uber.
Works with
Candidate data is processed in compliance with the GDPR.
Skilled Labour Market 2026, read it now.
13 pages in German, 5 figures, 40+ sources. No newsletter, no sharing of your data.