Berlin Hamburg is the federal state with the highest density of IT specialists. A different picture emerges at district level. There, the Rhein-Neckar district in Baden-Württemberg is well ahead of the Hanseatic city in terms of IT employment, as an analysis of the employment statistics of the Federal Employment Agency (BA) by the German Economic Institute (IW) shows.
For the study, which is available to the Handelsblatt, the IW examined how IT employment in Germany developed over a period of ten years between the fourth quarter of 2012 and the first quarter of 2022. Nationwide, there are 974,865 employees subject to social security contributions in IT and other information and communication technology (ITK) professions (as of March 31, 2022), which is around 367,000 more than in spring 2012 (an increase of 60 percent).
Growth was achieved everywhere. However, the shortage of IT specialists remains acute. According to IW, digitization and decarbonization in particular are leading to an increasing demand for IT staff. Employment in this area has “increased significantly” in recent years. However, the demand for specialists can by no means be covered by this.
The author of the study, Christina Anger, justifies this with, among other things, a growing demand for the right experts for working with data. “More and more companies are trying to implement data-driven business models, which are increasingly becoming a decisive competitive factor,” explains the economist. However, there was a lack of appropriate specialists.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
The problem was recently revealed by a study by the digital association Bitkom. According to this, the number of vacancies for computer scientists or other ITC professions rose by almost 43 percent to 137,000 in 2021. This means that the situation on the IT job market is even more tense than in the Corona year 2019. At that time, 124,000 vacancies for IT experts could not be filled.
SAP attracts skilled workers
The situation on the IT labor market is developing very differently from region to region. According to the IW study, Hamburg stands out in a comparison of the federal states. There, the proportion of IT employees among all employees subject to social security contributions in the city-state as of March 31, 2022 was the highest at 4.6 percent. This is an increase of 1.1 percentage points compared to the fourth quarter of 2012.
It is followed by Berlin (4.1 percent, up 1.7 points), Hesse (3.5 percent, up 0.7), Baden-Württemberg (3.5 percent, up 0.9) and Bavaria (3.4 percent). , plus 1.0). Bremen (3.2 percent, plus 0.9) also reached the national average (2.8 percent, plus 0.7).
In the eastern German federal states in particular, the proportion of IT employees is rather low (between two and 1.1 percent). In the ranking, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony-Anhalt (each 1.1 percent, plus 0.3 points) are lagging behind in last place.
In absolute figures, of course, a different picture emerges. Bavaria tops the list with 197,775 employees subject to social security contributions in the IT sector, followed by North Rhine-Westphalia (196,666) and Baden-Württemberg (170,778). In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony-Anhalt, on the other hand, there are only 6,179 and 8,605 IT employees who are subject to social security contributions.
According to IW, most IT jobs are primarily in large cities. Hamburg is considered a stronghold of the IT industry because of the IT service providers and media and gaming companies based there. And the Berlin start-up scene with companies in the areas of fintech (financial technology), adtech (marketing software), e-commerce and digital health also attracts many experts.
The Rhein-Neckar-Kreis in Baden-Württemberg in particular stands out in the evaluation of IT employment in all districts, rural districts, independent towns and urban districts.
With 12.3 percent, the region is in first place when it comes to the proportion of IT employees among all employees subject to social security contributions. This is likely to have a lot to do with the settlement of certain companies and the associated need for skilled workers. “In the Rhein-Neckar district, for example, SAP will play a major role,” explains IW economist Anger.
East Germany is also lagging behind at district level
The city of Erlangen is in second place (8.9 percent). It is followed by the Main-Taunus district (8.2 percent), the district of Munich (8.1 percent) and the city of Karlsruhe (7.9 percent).
>> Read here: Guest article by Ministers Nancy Faeser and Hubertus Heil: How we can attract more skilled workers from abroad
As a technology location, the Bavarian state capital is a sought-after destination for IT experts from the fields of electronics, electrical engineering, mechanical and automotive engineering, aerospace and information and communication. Karlsruhe and Stuttgart, which is listed in tenth place, are also locations that attract IT specialists with the automotive and mechanical engineering sectors as well as IT.
Eastern Germany also lags behind in the district ranking. The university cities perform best, including Jena (Thuringia) in 17th place, where the proportion of IT employees among all employees subject to social security contributions was 5.3 percent in the first quarter of 2022. It is followed by Dresden (Saxony; 4.3 percent) in 34th place, Leipzig (Saxony; 3.2 percent) in 65th place, Erfurt (Thuringia, 3.1 percent) in 68th place and Potsdam (Brandenburg; 2. 9 percent).
From the findings, the IW derives various measures to further increase the scope of employment in the IT professions. Above all, the digital education of schoolchildren should be improved from the point of view of the economist Anger.
This requires better digital equipment in schools, but at the same time competent teachers who give more weight to digital formats in the classroom.
Economist advocates computer science as a school subject
In addition, Anger advises upgrading the IT topic with a separate school subject called “computer science”. “, emphasizes the economist in her study.
>> Read here: The immigration illusion – why more immigration won’t save us from labor shortages
However, the demands are not new. Education researchers have long believed that computer science should be a compulsory part of education across the country. However, there is a problem with the implementation.
Hamburg’s school senator Ties Rabe (SPD) recently pointed out that a compulsory subject in computer science does not just need the right teachers. Moreover, when a school subject is introduced, other school subjects usually have to give up a few hours.
With the digital pact for schools, the federal government wants to support the equipment with computer technology between 2019 and 2024 with 6.5 billion euros.
(Photo: dpa)
The schools’ technical equipment has also been criticized for a long time. With the digital pact for schools, the federal government wants to support the equipment with computer technology between 2019 and 2024 with 6.5 billion euros.
But the help seems to be faltering. In any case, a survey of school principals at grammar schools, the results of which were recently published, showed that almost every tenth grammar school has not yet received any funds from the digital pact.
More: Draft law presented – federal government hopes for 50,000 additional workers from abroad per year