The STEM labor gap rises to an April record of 320,600 missing STEM workers. Without initial immigration successes, the gap would be over 600,000. The largest shortages are in the energy/electrical and IT sectors.

Berlin, 24 May 2022. The "MINT Spring Report" study shows that the STEM (mathematics, information technology, natural sciences, technology) labour gap is growing strongly. The STEM labor gap reaches a new record high for April 2022 with a total of 320,600 missing STEM workers for the same month in April. Last year, the STEM gap in April 2021 was only half as high at 159,800 missing STEM workers. In recent years, employment numbers and shortages have been particularly strong in the energy/electrical and IT sectors.

Prof. Dr. Axel Plünnecke, Head of the Competence Field Education, Immigration and Innovation at the Institute for Economic Research in Cologne: "Without the STEM immigration successes of recent years, Germany would already be lacking an additional 312,000 STEM workers and the STEM gap would be over 600,000. Research performance in Germany - measured in terms of patents - has risen in recent years simply because the number of patent applications filed by inventors with foreign roots has increased. In the case of patent applications in digitisation technologies, the proportion of inventors with foreign roots has risen particularly sharply from 8.2 percent in 2010 to 14.0 percent in 2018. In the telecommunications and IT industry group, the proportion of immigrants is as high as 22.5 percent."

Indra Hadeler, Managing Director Education and International Relations of the employers' association Gesamtmetall:

"The next generation of STEM students is in danger of dwindling. The negative effects of pandemic school closures on students' STEM skills and the decline in STEM freshman enrollment are leaving deep scars. Approximately 36 percent of the STEM workforce is employed in the M+E industry. Therefore, securing the next generation of STEM workers is particularly important for the industry in order to set the course for digitalization and decarbonization and thus for sustainable growth through innovations. The M+E industry invests around 101 billion euros per year in innovations - that is 59 percent of German innovation expenditure. 75 percent of all patent applications in Germany come from the M+E industry - climate protection and digitization are gaining significantly in importance."

Christina Ramb, member of the BDA's Executive Board: "Digitalization, decarbonization and demographic development challenge our education system simultaneously and from different directions. STEM education is an important key to addressing these key challenges. The STEM labour shortage is already having an impact on our competitiveness. Further potential needs to be recruited quickly. By providing stereotype-free career and study orientation, we must also inspire more women in particular to take up STEM professions, where they continue to be severely underrepresented. STEM professions offer excellent employment and promotion prospects. In addition, the opportunities for skilled labour immigration in STEM skilled occupations should be urgently improved by facilitating procedures."

Prof. Dr. Christoph Meinel, Chairman of MINT Zukunft e. V.: "MINT remains the greatest lever for understanding and shaping the world of today and tomorrow. In addition, MINT offers a good chance for the so often propagated educational advancement. Schools play a particularly important role in this context, as it is here that the foundations for STEM skills are laid and pupils are taught to enjoy shaping the real and virtual world. Broad, interdisciplinary teaching makes it possible, for example, to bring the buzzword "data-driven business models" to life later in professional life. Giving digitalisation more space in the classroom is a key condition for success. This should be achieved on the one hand by strengthening digital skills, and on the other hand by expanding basic information technology education, e.g. through a subject in computer science. A clearly stated challenge in the MINT Spring Report is that purely virtual learning cannot compete with on-site forms of learning and teaching in terms of effectiveness".

Edith Wolf and Dr. Ekkehard Winter, board members of the National MINT Forum: "These dramatic figures show that politics must take action - cooperation at all levels, between the federal government, the states and the municipalities is required. In this context, the promotion of MINT education must no longer be a topic of education policy alone. Labour and economic ministries should also be involved. A real opportunity to give many children access to STEM disciplines is the regular integration of extracurricular STEM actors into all-day activities, e.g. on fixed days. The use of this potential would lead to considerably more participation and equal opportunities. Children from educationally disadvantaged households in particular would benefit greatly from this."

The MINT Spring Report 2022 can be found at here.

About the MINT Report

The MINT Report is produced twice a year by the Cologne Institute for Economic Research. The study is commissioned by the following members of the National MINT Forum: Confederation of German Employers' Associations, Employers' Association Gesamtmetall and MINT Zukunft schaffen.