Engineers: too few and too old

At the beginning of last year there was a brief, lively discussion in the media as to whether or not there was a shortage of engineers in Germany. For example, the South German wrote of the fairy tale of the shortage of engineers, while VDI boss Ungeheuer said at the Hanover Fair that the ageing of engineers would fully hit from 2020. Every fifth engineer in Germany is older than 55 and only 18 percent of the engineers here are younger than 34. According to the VDI in spring 2014, this puts us at the bottom of the European comparison.

Junior Engineer

However, Germany as an industrial location not only needs good engineers, but also qualified and committed people in general. This applies in particular to the technically demanding mechanical engineering sector, which, with over 900,000 employees, is one of the key industries in Germany.

We are therefore delighted that our colleague Jacqueline Kammerer (who some will still know as Jacqueline Engelhardt) is back in our purchasing department after her parental leave. And if I take a close look at the photo of her son up there, which was taken almost three years ago, I find that the curious eyes of a young engineer are already looking at you. How do you see that?

See you soon

Thomas Bader