Overview
- The VDI reports that in the fourth quarter of 2025 about 58,400 people in engineering and IT jobs were unemployed, the highest figure since its series began in 2011.
- Open technical vacancies remained high at roughly 97,000 but fell about 18 percent year on year, showing demand has eased but not disappeared.
- VDI director Adrian Willig said weak economic growth has made firms hold back on investment and new hires, driving the recent rise in jobless figures.
- Unemployment increases were concentrated in technical research and production-control roles while areas tied to public investment and the energy transition, such as civil and energy engineering, still show strong demand.
- The VDI warns that long-term needs from infrastructure, the energy transition and digitization persist, notes that immigration and higher female labour participation materially expanded the 2012–2025 workforce, and says policy must keep focus on training and integration to avoid shortages when the economy recovers.