The Hays Engineering Skills Index rose by 11 points in Q4 2020 compared to the previous quarter to a value of 111. This was the best quarter so far during the coronavirus pandemic and is on a par with the same quarter of the previous year and 2017. Despite this increase in the index, demand did not rise for all positions in Q4 2020 compared to the previous quarter.

The index value for production engineers fell slightly (by - 6 points to 109), while that for development engineers in the automotive sector (+ 1 point to 32) and development engineers in drive technology (+ 4 points to 30) barely increased. The absolute values of the latter two positions in particular also show that the automotive industry is in the midst of upheaval and is clearly under pressure to generate earnings. The strongest growth in demand was for development engineers in the electronics/electrical engineering sector (+22 points to 72), followed by automation engineers (+19 points to 122).

Almost all sectors analyzed were looking for more engineers in Q4 2020 than in the previous quarter. The only exception was public administration (- 2 points), although its index value remains very high at 224. Demand rose most strongly in the IT sector (+ 66 to 239) and in construction (+ 19 points to 213). The turnover and order situation in both sectors have so far survived the coronavirus pandemic relatively unscathed compared to other economic sectors.

Compared to the same quarter of the previous year, the number of engineering vacancies in the 4th quarter of 2020 was mixed. The strongest growth was seen in civil engineers (+ 41 points), planning engineers (+ 25 points to 165) and chemical engineers (+ 15 points to 98). The sharpest declines were seen among development engineers in the automotive sector (- 40 points), automation engineers (- 27 points to 122), development engineers in drive technology (- 25 points) and calculation engineers (- 24 points to 38).

The sectors developed very heterogeneously compared to the same quarter of the previous year. The extremes are the IT sector (+ 97 points), the construction industry (+ 33 points) and public administration (+ 31 points) on the one hand, and the automotive industry (- 16 points to 32), architecture and engineering firms (- 13 points to 93) and mechanical engineering (- 11 points to 60) on the other. The mechanical engineering sector in particular is missing one of its key driving forces due to the weakening automotive industry.

The Hays Skilled Labor Index is based on a quarterly evaluation by index Internet und Mediaforschung GmbH for Hays. It includes job advertisements from the most popular online job exchanges, daily newspapers and the XING business network. The reference value of 100 is the 1st quarter of 2015. For reasons of simplified readability, only the masculine form is used. All position designations apply to all genders.

According to the professional assessment of Simon Alborz, Director Hays, the automotive industry in particular is facing enormous pressure to change. Changes in consumer behavior, sustainability considerations when making purchasing decisions, the sharing trend and the predicted boom in alternative drive technologies are just some of the factors playing a role here.

Where established drive technologies are constantly encountering new alternatives, employees need to be highly willing to undergo further training in order to keep pace with the rapidly changing skills requirements. Drive engineers who regularly take advantage of opportunities for training and further education have attractive prospects: Within the automotive industry with new areas of focus or in related sectors such as building technology, rail, aviation or nautical engineering.