At a glance

Management Summary

DEKRA Labor Market Report 2026

Specialists keen on leadership wanted: the share of job offers for managers is the highest since data collection began (16.4 %).
Artificial intelligence weakly represented: only 1.8 % of the job advertisements in the sample list AI skills as a requirement.
Engineering and IT professions have overcome their low from last year and regained shares.
Upturn for architects and software developers: both professions just missed the top 10 and take 11th place. Last year they were in 18th and 23rd place respectively.
Electrical engineers have returned to the top 25 (19th place), where last year they were absent for the first time since data collection began.
Comeback of economists: for the first time since 2018, they again hold a place among the top 10 professions.
Three care and social professions are among the most sought-after specialists: educators, home care workers and social education specialists.
Despite the economic slump, the metalworking professions have had an even higher share of the overall sample only once before. Here, welders and system engineers for sanitary, heating and air conditioning are particularly in demand.
Bottleneck in freight transport is growing: professional drivers have moved up to 20th place in the overall ranking (2025: 31st place).
The share of specialists in the warehouse logistics job market continues to rise and now stands at a good third (34.2 %). For comparison: in 2015 it was not even a fifth.