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A massive shortage of skilled workers – mostly in the sciences – is forcing Germany to look to, amongst others, South Africa to fill their most in-demand jobs, which include positions with a salary of up to R2.5 million a year.

Rapidly growing sectors like Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) are struggling to find suitable workers as the economy grapples with challenges such as elevated energy costs, unprecedented interest rates, and severe labour shortages.

With Germany’s ageing population, it’s estimated that there will be a shortage of nearly seven million skilled workers by 2035. STEM specialists will be most in demand with nearly 320,000 vacant jobs reported in 2022. Of the existing positions in these sectors, 202,000 are currently filled by foreigners, marking a 190% increase in the last decade.

According to digital outsourcing and consulting firm Strider Digital, South Africans are in demand due to their high standard of education and experience, work ethic, diversity, culture, and time zone.

“South Africa is home to a highly educated and skilled workforce, with many individuals holding degrees in IT, software development, business and marketing.”

“From a strong cultural affiliation to the ushering in of fresh ideas, as well as a creative and innovative approach to problem-solving, it’s not hard to see why South African talent are top of mind for foreign businesses who are looking to succeed with their outsourcing plans.”

According to Studying-in-Germany.org, the top five most in-demand careers are in engineering, information technology (IT), biotechnology and life sciences, data science and analytics, and robotics and automation.

Annual earnings for highly sought-after engineering positions can vary from R1.62 million to R2.5 million, with several titles in Biotechnology and Data Science exceeding R2 million.

Engineering is one of the key sectors in Germany, and it’s estimated that there is a need for 15,000 engineers to keep the voorsprong door techniek alive.  The Information Technology (IT) sector currently has 137,000 vacant positions, and the biotechnology sector noted a 16% increase in vacant jobs.

Robotics and Automation are also in boom-time and Germany currently places in third, behind Singapore and China, when it comes to employing robots – 415 robots per 10,000 employees.

Some of the salaries on offer are more than enough motivation to learn German, with the top ones being:

• Petroleum Engineer – R2.5 million
• Web Developer – R1.86 million
• Pharmacologist – R2.17 million
• Data Scientist – R2.34 million
• Robotics Engineer – R1.87 million

Although the biggest obstacle to working in Germany may be the language barrier, these positions make a crash course in Deutsch well worth it. If your kids are currently in Grades 11 or 12, you could do worse than gently nudging them in the direction of a STEM career.

They’ll danke you later.

[source:businesstech]