Short answer: Germany does not have a general labour shortage: unemployment was 6.4% in September 2026. But the Federal Employment Agency still lists 157 shortage occupations, concentrated in nursing and care, construction and skilled trades, cooks, professional drivers and educators. Software development is no longer one of them. Employers in those sectors increasingly rely on foreign workers.
How can Germany have high unemployment and shortages at the same time?
Because the shortages are in specific occupations, not across the labour market. In September 2026, 2,994,000 people were unemployed in Germany, a rate of 6.4% and 40,000 more than a year earlier. Employers had registered 660,000 vacancies with the Federal Employment Agency (BA), 30,000 more than a year before, but the BA described demand for workers as still weak (BA, 30 Sep 2026).
At the same time, the BA's annual shortage analysis counted 157 occupations with a shortage of skilled workers in 2025, down from 163 a year earlier. About half of the roughly 402,000 skilled-level vacancies registered on average in 2025 were in shortage occupations, while only about one in five unemployed skilled workers was looking for work in one. The BA calls this a mismatch of qualifications, occupations and regions (BA, 2 Sep 2026).
For an employer, the question is not whether Germany is short of workers. It is whether your occupation is.
Which sectors are short of workers?
The BA names care and health occupations as having the strongest shortages, followed by construction and skilled trades, cooks, professional drivers and educators (BA, 2 Sep 2026).
Care and nursing
Care has the largest gap. In May 2026 the BA counted 1.76 million employees in care occupations, of whom 353,000, about one in five, had a foreign nationality. Among workers from outside the EU, the largest groups came from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Türkiye and India. For every 100 vacancies for registered nurses there were only 57 unemployed registered nurses (BA, 8 May 2026).
Construction and skilled trades
The BA lists construction and skilled-trade occupations among the shortage areas for 2025 (BA, 2 Sep 2026). If you hire in these trades, check whether your specific occupation is on the BA's list; the BA publishes the full list in its online shortage analysis.
Cooks and hospitality kitchens
Cooks are named by the BA as a shortage occupation (BA, 2 Sep 2026).
Professional drivers
Professional drivers are also on the BA's list (BA, 2 Sep 2026). See Europe's truck-driver shortage and hiring from India.
Educators
Educators are sought as well (BA, 2 Sep 2026).
Which jobs are no longer shortage occupations?
Software development and IT sales are no longer shortage occupations. For 2025 the BA found no shortage in software development, IT sales or cutting metalwork, while surveying technology and social work were added to the list (BA, 2 Sep 2026).
That matters for employers who think of India mainly as a source of IT talent. On the BA's current figures, the stronger case for hiring from India lies in care, trades, kitchens and transport.
Are foreign workers already filling these gaps?
Yes. The share of foreign workers in shortage occupations has doubled from about 7% in 2014 to about 14%, the BA says. In care, the number of employees with German nationality fell by 5,000 compared with June 2024, while the number with a foreign nationality rose by 46,000. The BA expects immigration to become more important as more workers retire (BA, 2 Sep 2026).
How many Indian workers are in Germany?
Indian workers are a fast-growing group. Official German figures show 136,670 Indian workers in Germany in 2024, up from 23,320 in 2015 (BBC, 23 Mar 2026). India is also one of the three largest non-EU nationalities in German care occupations (BA, 8 May 2026).
How can you hire safely from India?
The main risk is in the sourcing chain, not in the candidates: unlicensed agencies and forged documents. Before you invest in a hire, make sure the Indian agency is registered with India's emigration authorities and that the candidate's documents have been checked.
Testiy lets employers hire skilled workers from India through verified agencies only. Each agency is checked before it can list candidates: licence checked, office verified, documents reviewed. Testiy checks the agency's MEA recruiting-agent registration against the active list on eMigrate, among other checks.
Candidate documents are reviewed by an officer, including checks of police clearance certificates, apostilles and, for drivers, driving licences. Testiy's review specialists work from Germany. Sign-up is free, and you pay only when a work contract is signed: no contract, no fee.
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