Shortage of skilled workers: migration of workers also threatens boom regions

The moving of more and more young people in the big cities poses problems to many regions. Skilled workers are missing. Now even structurally strong places begin to shrink.

Shortage of skilled workers: migration of workers also threatens boom regions

The ongoing exodus of many workers from country and smaller cities in large cities has also reached a survey of structurally strong regions. In ten cities and circles with a strong employment development, population shrinks at same time as a study by Institute of German Economy (IW) shows. So far rural and structurally weak places have been affected by an exodus and associated shortage of skilled workers.

Six of ten places are located in land of Lower Saxony. The leading leader is IW study according to Würzburg. In Bavarian city, between 2007 and 2015, employment rate for social security increased by almost a quarter (24.4 percent), while population shrank by 7.6 percent.

"In long term, this can lead to a downward spiral: companies migrate because y do not find skilled workers, regions become less attractive and continue to lose ir inhabitants," said Hubertus Bardt, a senior scientist of IW. Cities beyond big metropolises would have to become more attractive – with better childcare or good job prospects for partners.

For municipalities it is very difficult to get out of such a downward spiral, said economist Silvia Stiller of Hamburg Institute ETR, which has been analyzing regional economic trends for years. The subject is about Ruhr area. Leipzig and Dresden, on or hand, had made jump and developed very positively. The boom regions were not only competing with metropolises like Munich, Hamburg or Berlin. "The smaller and medium-sized cities are also competing with each or," says Stiller. For influx of skilled workers into smaller cities, " cost of living re is usually lower and places are often family-friendly."

Date Of Update: 05 August 2018, 12:00