Germany goes from labour shortages to hiring freezes • Hacker News Board

Re: Germany goes from labour shortages to hiring freezes

#21

Post by joe_mamba » Mon, May 18, 2026, 10:31 AM UTC

Escapado wrote: post #14

AdrianB1 wrote: post #9

The article is low quality. It talks a bit about the problem, not about the cause and it does not help anyone. The example at the beginning seems to be a now classic "I have a degree in an area where supply greatly exceeds demand". There is demand, there is supply, but there is a misalignment of qualifications and interests. If "well-qualified people" means fresh graduates in domains with low demand, then the qualifi…

> Too many people go to universities for a degree without checking if there is demand for these degree. I agree for certain fields such as your example but until recently software engineers were in disproportional demand and that has changed pretty dramatically in less time than one would need to get a degree in the field. Edit: And the example of people working in construction: I know a few. Their companies are book…

>They, however have shitty pay

A 24 year old friend works construction, building and restoring facades and such. Makes 70-80k Euros/year with his own schwarzgeld overtime outside of work. It's on par with a senior SW engineer with 10YOE here. Hard work indeed, but not poorly paid.

It's only poorly paid for unskilled positions in construction that are basically human carrying robots who haven't yet been automated.

Re: Germany goes from labour shortages to hiring freezes

#22

Post by nephihaha » Mon, May 18, 2026, 10:31 AM UTC

spwa4 wrote: post #6

Creating an ever-larger union makes goods cheap(er) by moving jobs out of expensive markets. Surprised?

Germany was one of the prototypes for the European Union in my view. I'm not talking about violent expansion but the Zollverein and other similar processes which united Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria with a number of other Länder.

Re: Germany goes from labour shortages to hiring freezes

#23

Post by slaw » Mon, May 18, 2026, 10:32 AM UTC

oytis wrote: post #16

AdrianB1 wrote: post #9

The article is low quality. It talks a bit about the problem, not about the cause and it does not help anyone. The example at the beginning seems to be a now classic "I have a degree in an area where supply greatly exceeds demand". There is demand, there is supply, but there is a misalignment of qualifications and interests. If "well-qualified people" means fresh graduates in domains with low demand, then the qualifi…

I dunno man, people are complaining about not being able to secure a vocational training position, especially as a foreigner. Maybe a bit of diversity and equality could help

Migrants to Germany account for 30.2% of the total population.

Is Germany not enough diverse for you?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_Germany

Re: Germany goes from labour shortages to hiring freezes

#24

Post by croes » Mon, May 18, 2026, 10:33 AM UTC

spwa4 wrote: post #6

Creating an ever-larger union makes goods cheap(er) by moving jobs out of expensive markets. Surprised?

Shame on the workers who want their share from the work they did, poor shareholders, all their hard work for nothing. /s

Unions in Germany have less power than in France for instance. The rights to strike are more restrictive

Re: Germany goes from labour shortages to hiring freezes

#25

Post by angry_octet » Mon, May 18, 2026, 10:34 AM UTC

pietro72ohboy wrote: post #11

unsupp0rted wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Luckily they’ve brought in plenty of people eager to sacrifice short term being exploited for long term exploiting others.

And who are these people?

Indians. Well educated, hard working, and willing to put in 20 years of serfdom to get that green card. Even a 30% discount on wages is still a better quality of life than their alternatives.

If they were granted proper work visas with portability then wages would go up. That's why Elon and co love H1Bs.

Re: Germany goes from labour shortages to hiring freezes

#26

Post by nephihaha » Mon, May 18, 2026, 10:34 AM UTC

skirge wrote: post #13

AdrianB1 wrote: post #9

The article is low quality. It talks a bit about the problem, not about the cause and it does not help anyone. The example at the beginning seems to be a now classic "I have a degree in an area where supply greatly exceeds demand". There is demand, there is supply, but there is a misalignment of qualifications and interests. If "well-qualified people" means fresh graduates in domains with low demand, then the qualifi…

I come from Eastern Europe. Teachers used to tell us that we had to go to university if we wanted to have an easier life later on.

We all got told this. The trouble is that it isn't always true. A good STEM degree could do, but so many others don't. Now we're seeing the slow death of some of the professions, and it's started with accountancy.

Re: Germany goes from labour shortages to hiring freezes

#27

Post by joe_mamba » Mon, May 18, 2026, 10:34 AM UTC

zelphirkalt wrote: post #18

oytis wrote: post #3

Jokes on FT, we have both

I am not so sure we really have or had both. Maybe for roles like electrician and tiler and such. But for roles like teachers, I feel it is not the case, or policy makers are extremely stupid here. The hurdles for someone to become a teacher without having studied that are still very high. It doesn't seem like policies a nation would implement, if they really wanted more teachers. For example you need to have 500h of…

> It doesn't seem like policies a nation would implement, if they really wanted more teachers.

Aren't those hurdles put in by teachers' unions to ensure they maintain a leverage over their jobs market? Same is for doctors, notaries, etc in a lot of countries.

Re: Germany goes from labour shortages to hiring freezes

#28

Post by HPsquared » Mon, May 18, 2026, 10:35 AM UTC

zelphirkalt wrote: post #18

oytis wrote: post #3

Jokes on FT, we have both

I am not so sure we really have or had both. Maybe for roles like electrician and tiler and such. But for roles like teachers, I feel it is not the case, or policy makers are extremely stupid here. The hurdles for someone to become a teacher without having studied that are still very high. It doesn't seem like policies a nation would implement, if they really wanted more teachers. For example you need to have 500h of…

I imagine the doctors situation is the same. Also the houses situation.

Re: Germany goes from labour shortages to hiring freezes

#29

Post by joe_mamba » Mon, May 18, 2026, 10:36 AM UTC

noosphr wrote: post #15

AdrianB1 wrote: post #9

The article is low quality. It talks a bit about the problem, not about the cause and it does not help anyone. The example at the beginning seems to be a now classic "I have a degree in an area where supply greatly exceeds demand". There is demand, there is supply, but there is a misalignment of qualifications and interests. If "well-qualified people" means fresh graduates in domains with low demand, then the qualifi…

>There are jobs, but not the ones most people want. There is no such thing as a shortage in labor markets. There is just people not willing to pay the correct price.

[flagged]

Re: Germany goes from labour shortages to hiring freezes

#30

Post by markvdb » Mon, May 18, 2026, 10:36 AM UTC

One could reasonably have expected much worse than "just" automotive and energy intensive sectors in crisis in Germany.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Trump administration actively shrinking the economic cake worldwide. Its active economic and cultural warfare against Europe. Nothing to sneeze at.

Germany and by extension the EU have shown remarkable resilience for now. The question what will happen next should an actual crisis follow. Don't be surprised should Europe further integrate its capital markets and defense to some extent.