As long as we can think, work has been at the centre of our existence. These days, it covers around 25% of our adult life, 40 hours a week. In former times, it was more and it tends to become less in the next decades. Two megatrends pull on each side of this important part of our life, on the job market place.

On the one hand, automation and AI take more and more jobs away and replace them with machines. I have dedicated a whole series to that already. On the other hand, the generation of baby boomers (age group 1946 - 1964) will retire by 2030 latest when the last working boomers will be 66 years old. Thus much more people will leave the job market than join. Within the next eight years, we talk about a loss of about 4 million people. Looking at the birth rates, the trend will continue afterwards for at least five more years in similarly dramatic numbers.

So here's my prediction: Germany has a tech focus with many engineers and mechanics. Especially in these areas, AI will be strong in the future and we will see a saturation of the market combined with an increase of productivity. In many other areas like education, health care and craftsmanship, we will see a massive shortage of labour that will threaten our society if we don't allow people from abroad to fill the gaps through migration.