The shortage of IT specialists in the German economy has worsened. According to the Bitkom digital association, the number of vacancies last year rose by almost 43 percent to 137,000. This makes the situation on the IT job market even more tense than in the pre-corona year 2019. At that time, 124,000 vacancies for IT experts could not be filled. The corona pandemic had slightly alleviated the shortage of skilled workers in 2020 and 2021.

When presenting the figures, Bitkom President Achim Berg spoke of a structural shortage of skilled workers in the IT job market. "The lack of IT experts is becoming increasingly difficult for companies and will increase dramatically in the coming years." Berg referred to the fact that numerous specialists from the boomer generation are retiring and at the same time significantly fewer young people with IT qualifications are entering the labor market.

"The shortage of skilled workers is becoming the main obstacle to digital transformation," complained Berg. He campaigned for targeted poaching of IT experts from Russia and Belarus. According to a Bitkom survey, a good third (37 percent) of companies with vacancies in IT are willing to hire IT specialists from Russia or Belarus, provided they have passed an official security check beforehand.