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THE PANEL

EMPLOYMENT

Are you worried about losing your job in 2009?

As a wave of layoffs descends on Sweden, we ask whether The Local's regular panelists are concerned about finding themselves unemployed.

Published: 14 January 2009 11:45 CET
Are you worried about losing your job in 2009?
Photo: Daniel Wildman

Carina Silfverduk

Carina Silfverduk

I am not very worried about losing my job in 2009. I work as a software developer for an IT and consulting firm in Malmö. But the thought does linger in the back of my mind as my company has done a few things to cut costs.

Of course, I know better than most how quickly things like this can change. I’ve worked at several companies that merged with others and downsized in the States, and several other companies that went belly up just when it seemed like things were going very well.

I usually have a sense of where a company is going based on how organized and goal-oriented they are. My sense of my company at this time is exactly that. My company is financially stable and the product I am working on is a solid product that is in demand.

The best things for a person to have during challenging economic times are the right skills and experience to be able to obtain another job should you lose the one you have. My job in particular is pretty safe from layoffs considering the body of experience and education it requires.

Nabeel Shehzad

Nabeel Shehzad

80% no and 20% yes.

Since I am working in a US-based company which is currently doing good business all around the globe, the ongoing crisis hasn’t affected the firm. But the fear of losing my job still exists, as I guess it does for most people working in Sweden because this credit crunch is getting deeper and deeper and is showing no signs of ending.

Psychologically speaking, unless we start getting positive news in the newspaper about the current financial situation, we will all be worried about losing our jobs to some extent.

Sanna Holmqvist

Sanna Holmqvist

Not really, but like most people it is hard to feel anything but concern, if not for myself then for the situation as a whole when it seems like every time you turn on the news, hundreds or even thousands more people have been getting notice about losing their jobs.

I heard a professor in economics say today that we must remember that far from all of those who get notice do actually lose their jobs in the end. But still, it must be horrible to live under the pressure. And all branches and sectors will be affected in one way or another, but I am not too worried about losing my job.

Marcus Cederström

Marcus Cederström

No. Not at all. I just got hired. So I’m flush with confidence.

And I look around at my company and more and more people are being hired. I know there is a recession. I know the unemployment numbers are bad. I know that that there was negative growth in GDP plunging Sweden into an official recession. I read the headlines of people getting laid off. It is not a pretty picture. I know.

But I’m just not worried. Maybe it’s a false sense of confidence considering the continued negative economic outlook, but I’ll rack it up to youthful exuberance and keep going to work every day. And just

feel lucky to have a job.

Claudia Tenenblat

Claudia Tenenblat

As I have said before, I am on extended leave from a job with my country’s federal administration and I don’t work steadily in Sweden. Fortunately, this question does not concern me.

Robert Flahiff

Robert Flahiff

In short, no, I personally am not worried at this point. I am “fastanställd” (permanently employed) and belong to a labour union with a Swedish multinational which, at this point in time, is weathering the current troubles.

But those with short-term contracts have either not had their contracts renewed or have been informed that they will not be renewed. This wasn’t totally unexpected, but does put a bit more pressure on the rest of us to perform.

We are continuing to expand and grow internationally, but if that contracts, then I will start to worry. We are aware, feel, and understand the pinch, but due to previous long-term planning and current investment in automation, we should be OK in the end.

Tiffany Hoffman

Tiffany Hoffman

Tiffany has just arrived in the country and has not had a chance to worry about holding onto a job just yet.

Nicolas Belloni

Nicolas Belloni

Not so much. I’m concerned of course, but I’m a candidate for a PhD position which is 5 years long. So if I get that, I won’t be worried anymore.

For members

JOBS

Which regions in Germany need foreign engineers?

Germany’s worker shortage is hitting the engineering sector hard, and there are huge differences in worker shortages between the regions. The Association of German Engineers (VDI) is calling for Germany to be more welcoming to foreign engineers in order to fill the gaps.

Published: 12 May 2023 15:52 CEST
Which regions in Germany need foreign engineers?

What’s going on?

Germany is currently facing a worsening shortage of skilled workers, with employers struggling to fill around 630,000 job vacancies in various industries. The engineering sector is particularly affected and saw a 21.6 percent increase in vacancies in the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021.

According to the latest figures from the Association of German Enginners (VDI), there are currently 170,300 vacancies for engineers.

READ ALSO: ‘600,000 vacancies’: Why Germany’s skilled worker shortage is greater than ever

There’s a particular shortage of civil engineers, computer scientists and electrical engineers which is leading to hold-ups in public construction and digitalisation projects.

Which regions are particularly struggling?

Though there are shortages everywhere, there is a widening gap between the numbers of foreign engineers in large cities and those in rural areas.

In Munich, for example, foreign nationals make up almost 13 percent of the total number of engineers. In the Stranberg district of the city, more than one in four engineers are foreigners.

The employment of foreigners in engineering professions is highest in Berlin where they make up 18.6 percent of engineers, followed by Hamburg with 13.3 per cent and Bavaria with 12.7 per cent. Schleswig-Holstein has the lowest proportion of foreigners out of the western German states with a share of 4.9 per cent.

Employees of the Tesla Gigafactory Berlin Brandenburg work on a production line of a Model Y electric vehicle. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Patrick Pleul

In eastern states like Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony-Anhalt, foreign engineers are few and far between, despite being desperately needed.

There are also differences between the states in terms of the types of engineers needed. For example, in the last quarter of 2022, the total number of vacancies in information technology jobs in Hesse increased by 49.7 per cent, in Baden-Württemberg by 45.2 per cent and in Berlin/Brandenburg by 40.1 per cent, while the number in Rhineland-Palatinate/Saarland decreased by 23.5 per cent.

READ ALSO: Germany sees ‘over 550 percent increase’ in Indian IT workers over decade

The demand for civil engineering jobs, however, decreased significantly in Berlin/Brandenburg (-3.8 per cent), Saxony (-7.7 per cent) and Saxony-Anhalt/Thuringia (-7.8 per cent).

According to the VDI, the huge differences in the proportion of foreign engineers mainly depend on which universities and companies there are in the region.

If there are technical universities with lots of foreign students, this increases the proportion of engineers with foreign passports in the region.

The presence of factories or international corporations has a similar effect. For example, the proportion of foreign engineers in the Oder-Spree district in Brandenburg was stuck at two to three percent for a long time. But at the end of 2020, that figure tripled within a few months – thanks to the car manufacturer Tesla opening a factory there.

Germany needs to be “more welcoming” to foreigners

Head of the VDI, Dieter Westerkamp has said that without a strong influx of foreign skilled workers, Germany will not be able to close the gap in the labour market for engineers and that this could ultimately slow down Germany’s economic development.

READ ALSO: IN DEPTH: Are Germany’s immigration offices making international residents feel unwelcome?

The VDI is now calling for Germany to make itself more attractive to foreign engineers. The German government recently published a new draft law which aims to plug its skills gap by adapting its immigration laws. Amongst other things, the proposals aim to loosen the requirements for Blue Card applicants and to bring in a points-based job seekers visa. 

However, Westerkamp complains that some immigrants wait months for a visa appointment at the German embassy and that staff shortages at the foreigners’ offices lead to delays.

A recent study by the Bertelsmann Foundation’s Skilled Migration Monitor also found that managers increasingly complain about bureaucratic and legal hurdles as well as difficulties in the recognition of qualifications for foreign workers. 

Westerkamp said that Germans must understand that their standard of living can’t be maintained without more immigration and said that, people must “give foreigners the feeling that they are welcome in this country”. 

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