OREANDA-NEWS. July 30, 2015. When companies take a long time to fill vacant positions, or are unable to fill them at all, their competitiveness suffers.

Although SMEs are considerably more optimistic about recruiting skilled workers than they were a few years ago, nonetheless more than half of companies that are hiring expect to experience recruitment problems in the short term. SMEs clearly see the qualification of labour supply as the greatest issue.

They are concerned about a shortage of applicants in certain occupations – primarily in the construction and manufacturing sectors. Many companies are also worried that applicants do not have the required additional qualifications, particularly in knowledge-intensive industries. In the short term, immigration can supply qualified workers to mitigate the impact of structural bottlenecks, whereas a lack of additional qualifications calls for targeted education and training initiatives.

Recruitment of skilled workers in SMEs: Optimism must not distract from qualification problems (PDF, 207 KB, non-accessible)