Germany’s car-sector slowdown weighs on young engineers

Germany’s automotive slowdown is making it harder for some young engineers to find work, even in fields linked to software and advanced vehicle systems.

AFP spoke with Max Peil, a 30-year-old German software engineer trained in computer vision, a technology used in autonomous and intelligent driving systems. Peil said he had spent a year looking for work, had sent about 50 applications and had received one interview. He had previously worked at large automotive suppliers and completed a traineeship last year at Continental before the company spun off its automotive business.

Young engineers who might once have expected an easier path into Germany’s large industrial companies are now facing weaker growth in Germany and stronger competition from Chinese carmakers.

Thomas Puls, a transport economist at the IW economic institute in Cologne, said that Germany produced about six million vehicles a year 10 years ago and had now stabilised at about four million to 4.2 million. He said that was still strong compared with other European countries, but that Germany needed to accept that the earlier period of expansion would not return.

Chinese carmakers including BYD and Xpeng have reduced German carmakers’ sales in China, the world’s largest auto market, contributing to adjustments in Germany. Workers protested at Volkswagen sites across Germany on Thursday after reports that the company was considering up to 100,000 job cuts.

According to Federal Employment Agency data, total employment in Germany’s automotive sector fell 8% in the five years to 2025, while overall employment grew a little more than 1%. Qualified engineers had an unemployment rate of 3.8% last year, almost 50% higher than in 2022.

The pressure is part of a wider challenge for German industry, as Chinese companies move into higher-technology products, often at lower prices. Destatis data showed total German exports were 1.56 trillion euros, or $1.78 trillion, last year, down almost 2% from a 2022 peak. Exports to China fell almost a quarter over the same period, to 81.3 billion euros.

Anja Robert, head of careers at RWTH Aachen University, said that even some of the strongest engineering students now sometimes need longer job searches. She said some students ask why they have had little response after sending around 30 applications, and that it is no longer enough simply to apply to a company such as BMW and expect a job.

Electrical engineer Luca Linhsen started work as a software consultant in Hamburg this month after what she described as a frustrating months-long search. She said engineering students had previously been led to believe they would have a job almost before finishing their degree, and advised people to study engineering because they care about technology rather than for money or job security.