Article
There are enough applications again, just not the right ones: your job ad has to filter
The German labour market has turned: each new hire attracts 16 applications again, but only four of them fit. In five charts, I show what the latest IAB figures mean for small businesses and how a job ad reaches the right people.
For three years, I heard the same sentence in almost every business: there are no people. That is no longer quite true. The number of job vacancies in Germany has fallen sharply, and each job attracts clearly more applications again. The problem has shifted. What is missing is less often applications and more often the right ones.
The figures come from the job vacancy survey of the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), a regular survey of most recently 8,529 employers. It also covers vacancies that are never registered with the employment agency. I analysed the time series and show what they mean for small businesses and the skilled trades.
The labour market has turned in employers’ favour
In the second quarter of 2026, there were around 1.02 million job vacancies in Germany. Four years earlier, there were 1.83 million, a drop of 44%. Apart from the COVID lockdowns, demand for workers has not been this low since 2016, according to the IAB. Most recently, there were 291 unemployed people for every 100 vacancies.
Employers notice this when hiring. In 2022, almost one in two new hires came with difficulties, in 2025 just under one in three. One reason in particular has lost weight: too few applications affected 36% of all hires in 2022 and only 19% in 2025. Almost as often, employers now say that applicants lack the right qualifications.
Each new hire attracts 16 applications, four of which fit
In 2022, a new hire attracted 9 applications on average, in 2025 it was 16. Employers considered only around four of them generally suitable, or 28%. Almost three in four applications end up on the rejection pile. Note that whether an application fits is judged by the employer alone, not by the person applying.
The IAB offers two possible explanations: in times of economic upheaval, knowledge becomes outdated faster, and people who urgently need work are more likely to apply for jobs that fit them less well. For you as an employer, this means more applications first of all mean more work, not automatically more choice.
Small businesses get the fewest applications
The easing does not reach everyone equally. In 2025, employers with fewer than 50 staff received 8 applications per hire on average, 2 of which fit. Employers with 250 or more staff received 27, 7 of which fit. In production occupations, which include construction, finishing and manufacturing trades, the average was 12 applications and 3 suitable ones.
Large employers are better known and have careers pages and budgets for job ads. A small business has to make do with fewer applications and can rarely afford a bad hire. That makes it all the more important that the few who do apply are the right ones.
In construction, hiring is getting harder again
Overall, vacancies fell by 3% within a year. In construction, however, they rose by 22%, from 89,100 to 108,800. That is still far below the 198,200 of 2022, but the trend is pointing upwards again. If you are hiring in construction or finishing trades, you are once again competing with more businesses for the same people. The survey does not show workshops and other trades separately.
A good job ad filters before you read
When the problem is no longer quantity but fit, the job ad has to work differently. Its job is not to reach as many people as possible, but to convince the right ones and to show everyone else honestly that the job is not for them.
- Describe the work as it is. A typical day, real tasks, real photos from your business instead of phrases like “dynamic team”.
- Separate must-haves from nice-to-haves. Which qualification, which driving licence, which experience is required? What do you teach new people yourself?
- State pay and working hours. According to the IAB, wage demands and working conditions are among the most common reasons for hiring difficulties. The EU Pay Transparency Directive provides that applicants learn the starting pay or a range before the interview anyway. Germany did not transpose it by the deadline of 7 June 2026, but the direction is set.
- Ask two or three screening questions. A short form asking about driving licence, start date or work location saves you sorting. It should work on a phone without a cover letter.
- Reply quickly. Anyone who fits should hear from you within a day. I described how much response time matters for customer inquiries in my article on inquiries in the first hour.
For small businesses, reach matters too. An ad on Facebook and Instagram also reaches people who are not actively looking right now, and a form with screening questions sends the application straight to your inbox or CRM. I build campaigns with lead forms like this and the careers page to go with them. If you are hiring right now, get in touch.
Sources
- Institute for Employment Research (2026): IAB Job Vacancy Survey, time series on vacancies, hiring difficulties and their reasons (Excel), data as of 3 Sep 2026. iab.de
- Kubis, Alexander (2026): IAB-Stellenerhebung 2/2026: Fast drei von vier Bewerbungen sind aus betrieblicher Sicht ungeeignet, IAB-Forum, 3 Sep 2026 (German). iab-forum.de
- Institute for Employment Research (2026): Rückgang der offenen Stellen im zweiten Quartal 2026 auf rund 1 Million, press release, 3 Sep 2026 (German). iab.de
- European Parliament and Council (2023): Directive (EU) 2023/970 to strengthen the application of the principle of equal pay through pay transparency, Articles 5 and 34, Official Journal of the EU, 17 May 2023. eur-lex.europa.eu
- German Bundestag (2026): Umsetzung der EU-Entgelttransparenzrichtlinie, hib 587/2026, 16 Jul 2026 (German). bundestag.de
