For anyone investing abroad, the local job market is an absolutely essential factor to weigh up. If you are not living in the property yourself, you need a tenant who can pay rent — and a labor market where that tenant can find a new job quickly if they need to.
Germany’s economy has stayed strong for many years, powered by a well-educated workforce that often stays with the same employer for a long time. Most workers earn well, one reason for Germany’s stable, high standard of living. Almost every worker holds a qualification in their own trade — sometimes on top of further training or other experience.
An Aging, Well-Qualified Workforce
German employees were on average around 44 years old in 2017 (up roughly 4 years over the prior two decades) — this is the average age of the workforce, not the average length of a working life or career — though that number is not fully precise, because the baby-boom generation, born between 1950 and 1965, is now mostly retiring. The birth rate fell quickly after that period. Baby boomers are not retiring at 65 or 66 but at 62 or 63; some worked 45 years because they started their education and working life early, while others retired within the legally set retirement window. The result has been a sudden loss of thousands of well-trained workers across skilled trades, administration and many other important roles.
Germany has seen large waves of immigration over the past 20 years. The children and grandchildren of these immigrants have taken on some of these roles, but nowhere near enough. Strict German immigration rules make it hard for new immigrants or foreign workers to start working in Germany: it takes patience, a lot of paperwork, and support from a German employer to get a work visa. New immigrants sometimes also struggle to obtain the necessary documents, especially if they arrived in Germany without any papers or certificates.
A Growing Skills Shortage
As a result, Germany has felt the effects of a skilled-labor shortage, remaining concentrated in nursing and healthcare and construction and skilled trades — but per the Bundesagentur für Arbeit’s official shortage analysis, the number of shortage occupations has actually been narrowing since 2023 (183 in 2023, 163 in 2024, 157 in 2025), not worsening year on year.
Why? Government education policy, and most parents’ preference for their children to pursue advanced academic study, have made vocational education under the dual system less appealing. Any work involving physical labor has lost popularity; only computer-related work, senior administrative or legal roles, or other “fashionable” jobs remain in demand.
Yet everyday life still needs workers to keep energy, water and other essential services running. New technology has made some of this work easier and less physically demanding than it was ten years ago — a bricklayer’s work today, for example, involves more use of machinery, materials know-how and experience in handling them.
It seems to take society some years to start rethinking this. The result is long waiting times for specialists in electricity, heating, water, gas and every other part of daily life — and that situation is set to keep growing quickly.
What This Means for Landlords
In practice, every worker or employee in Germany today has real market demand for their skills, and holding a trade qualification raises that demand further. Companies are very interested in new, reliable applicants, and this trend is likely to continue for years to come, recession or boom. Finding good staff will also remain a difficult task for German companies.
This is good news for prospective investors: a tenant who is in demand in the labor market is more likely to be a reliable, stable tenant too.
Have a question about this guide? Leave a comment below, or ask Zagdim directly.
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