Germany has established a €500 billion Special Fund for Infrastructure and Climate Neutrality, allowing additional investment over 12 years, from 2025 to 2036. The funding is intended to modernise infrastructure and support Germany’s target of climate neutrality by 2045. It covers areas including transport, digitalisation and energy infrastructure, with €100 billion allocated to infrastructure investment by Germany’s federal states and local authorities.
For employers, the scale of this investment raises an important question: will Germany have enough skilled workers to deliver it? Recent labour-market data suggests the answer varies considerably from one trade to the next, making it worth examining where shortages are most acute
Two Job Markets, One Country
The Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit) listed 157 occupational categories with skills shortages in its September 2026 analysis, which covers 2025. That compares with 183 in 2023 and 163 in 2024, so the direction is encouraging. In software development, the shift has moved and it no longer appears among the occupations the agency flags as short of workers.
Sadly, the skilled trades haven’t followed suit. The same analysis flags continuing gaps in mechatronics and electrical work, in plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning, and in construction and finishing. Skilled trades account for nearly half of all skilled-worker occupations on the agency’s understaffed list, so it would be risky to assume the headline figure says much about any one trade.
Counting Heads Isn’t Counting Skills
Look at the plumbing and sanitation trades, or at heating and air-conditioning, and the problem comes into focus. In 2025, registered job seekers came to roughly 1.1 for every vacancy listed at the skilled-worker level, which looks like enough people to go around. But the data doesn’t say whether the people on that list have the training, track record, or niche skills the jobs demand, though, and that’s the question an employer still has to answer.
The sensible response is to work out which skills a business actually needs and how easily they can be sourced locally, instead of leaning on broad assumptions about the labor market.
The Clock Is the Real Cost
Time makes the strain easier to see. Hiring in the skilled trades averaged 242 days per vacancy in 2025, or nearly eight months, according to the agency’s September 2026 analysis, and for all occupations combined, it averaged 167 days.
Gaps that long ripple outward. Workloads back up, project deadlines come under pressure, and opportunities get missed while a role stays open. For construction and infrastructure firms, that can turn into serious operational strain, and it’s sharpest when a job needs credentials or experience that are scarce in the local market. Giving recruitment more lead time is the obvious answer, and the earlier it goes into the plan, the better.
Will the Workforce Be There When the Projects Start?
The fund won’t automatically add pressure in every trade, but as the money turns into projects, companies in construction and engineering, and the businesses that serve them, will want to know whether the workforce they need is within reach. Firms planning to bid for contracts, expand, or take on extra work should weigh that before committing, particularly where the skills involved are already scarce.
A Wider Talent Pool, With One Catch
First, an important caveat: German law restricts labour leasing for certain manual roles in the construction sector, so an EOR won’t be suitable for every position.
For eligible roles, an Employer of Record specialist in Germany can help businesses employ staff from abroad without setting up their own German entity, potentially widening the pool of candidates available.
With skilled-trades vacancies taking an average of 242 days to fill, it’s an option worth exploring before the next recruitment round begins.
