Germany’s surging economy has led to record high job vacancies, as company’s struggle to find the employees they need to meet orders. A survey by the IAB labor office found that in the final quarter of 2017, 85,000 new vacancies emerged, making for a total of 128,000 new ones for the year, producing a total of 1.18 million jobs for which no employee had been found. Of the total, 918,000 were in the former area of West Germany. “Demand for new staff rose the strongest in manufacturing and construction,” IAB researcher Alexander Kubis said, according to the Independent. The construction sector is short 98,000 pairs of hands, while manufacturers can’t fill 161,000 positions. “The figures show the improved labour market conditions for applicants, but they also mean rising challenges for employers when recruiting staff,” Kubis said.
