KfW-ifo Barometer for Shortage of Skilled Labour

Tasks

The shortage of skilled workers has increased considerably in recent years and now affects large parts of the economy. Skill shortage could become a serious obstacle to the German economy‘s  growth  in the coming years and decades. An indicator for the shortage of skilled labor is intended to provide an up-to-date and clear description of the bottleneck situation, to advise policymakers and the public and to indicate the need for action.

Methods

In its business surveys, the ifo Institute asks 9,000 German companies to report on their current business situation, expectations and plans for the coming months and other economic topics. Among other things, the survey covers the shortage of labor/skilled labor. The data can be evaluated for individual economic sectors, so that not only it is possible to show which percentage of German companies is affected by the lack of skilled workers at the respective time, but also statements can be made for different economic sectors. The methodology for calculating the indicator is based  upon common aggregation principles for indicators in the ifo business surveys. The reported data is weighted according to company size.

Data and other sources

ifo Business Surveys