German Engineers: The Proud and Too Few
By Tom Hundley, Chicago Tribune
Jun. 12–HAMBURG, Germany — Everyone in Europe knows that food and romance are best left to the French and Italians; for mechanical stuff, call the Germans.
From Mercedes automobiles to kitchen appliances made by Braun or Krups, the Germans have a way with machinery. But Germany’s reputation for engineering excellence is lately being undermined by an acute shortage of engineers.
According to a recent study by the German Association of Engineers, there are about 23,000 engineering job vacancies in Germany. Another study, by the Institute for the German Economy, put the figure at 48,000 and said 1 in 6 companies that employ engineers are having trouble filling vacancies.
Siemens, the largest employer of engineering talent in Germany, has openings for 3,000 engineers. Lufthansa Technik, which services the commercial aviation industry worldwide, says it is looking for 400 “high-potential” engineers.
Even the German divisions of Airbus, in the midst of a restructuring that will force the shedding of thousands of jobs, still need to hire engineering talent or see the edge in aerospace technology shift decisively to the French side of the consortium.
Experts say the unfilled jobs are costing the German economy about $4 billion a year in lost productivity.
No one is sure why Germany is suddenly running short of engineering talent, but there are plenty of theories.
Michael Stawicki, president of the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, said the growing field of computer science has drawn away many students who otherwise would have gone into engineering departments. As a result, Germany’s top technical universities are still 98 percent full, but the number of engineering students has dropped by a third.
The computer itself is partly to blame — it has pushed the boundaries of engineering, but it also has made some young people less curious about the mechanics of how things work.
“You used to be able to look at an automobile engine and figure out how it works. Not anymore,” Stawicki said. “Even the experts don’t know how things work. They just attach a computer to it.”
Greens also to blame?
Others point a finger at the growing influence of Germany’s Green Party. They believe the environmentally conscious Greens have fostered a generation of Germans who are hostile to technology. The flip side of that argument is that “green technology” is one of the fastest-growing and most lucrative fields for engineers.
Still others see the shortage as an early warning sign of problems to come as a result of Germany’s sharply declining birthrate. Soon, they argue, there also will be shortages of doctors, teachers and plumbers.
A more quantifiable explanation for the deficit is the absence of women in this traditionally male-dominated field. Female students represent little more than 5 percent of German engineering students, compared with 20 percent in the U.S.
Germany also hosts relatively small numbers of foreign students, about 15 percent overall. In the U.S., where about 60 percent of the doctoral degrees in engineering were awarded to foreign students last year, many engineering schools would go out of business without those paying customers.
Marc Langendorf, a spokesman for Siemens, says the company is not particularly worried about the shortage, which it sees as temporary.
“With engineers, it’s always kind of a cyclical thing. A couple of years ago, [engineering] wasn’t a popular field because there weren’t any job openings.”
The unexpected turnaround of the German economy over the past two years or so has created an unexpected demand for engineers, Langendorf said.
“I think we’ll have the right number in about four years,” he said.
To replenish the talent pool, German universities and engineering trade organizations are beginning to focus on youngsters, designing programs to spark interest in why airplanes fly or what makes computers tick.
“The fascination begins early, age 8 or 9; if you’re 18, it’s too late,” said Anja Reichardt, a human resources manager at Lufthansa Technik.
Looking beyond its borders
Hamburg-based Lufthansa Technik, which repairs, maintains and overhauls commercial aircraft for about 500 customers worldwide, has started casting a wider net in its search for engineering talent. Company representatives were recruiting recently in Beijing and Shanghai.
Lufthansa Technik, which was spun off from the German national airline, relies heavily on its famous name and the German reputation for engineering excellence.
“It’s absolutely important,” said Bernd Habbel, director of corporate communications for the company. “This made-in-Germany stamp is very important to our brand. It’s part of Germany’s image in the world, and we have to maintain it.”
thundley@tribune.com
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