There is a figure from the Federal Employment Agency’s statistics that is surprisingly little known in construction companies, even though it costs them money every day. It is 301. That is the average number of days a posted job opening in finishing and drywall construction remains unfilled. This is not for a single year, but for a rolling 12-month period from April 2025 to March 2026.
The number that hardly anyone knows
The finishing and drywall trades top the list of occupations with the longest time to fill positions in Germany. They are closely followed by other construction trades.
- Carpentry and Drywall Installation, Insulation: 301 days
- Plumbing, Sanitary Systems, Heating, HVAC: 296 days
- Floor installation: 290 days
- Natural Stone and Mineral Processing, Building Materials Manufacturing: 289 days
- Building Construction: 285 days
By way of comparison: Across all skill levels, the average time a position remains vacant in Germany is 165 days. For skilled-worker positions, it is 183 days. The finishing and drywall construction sector is thus about 64 percent above the skilled-worker average and nearly double the overall average.
301 days is ten months. Statistically, if you post a job opening in January, you’ll fill it in November—if everything goes as usual.
Why construction, of all things?
The vacancy period measures the time from the desired hiring date until the moment the employer notifies the Federal Employment Agency that the position has been filled. It is thus one of six indicators the Federal Employment Agency uses annually to determine whether an occupation is in short supply.
However, the real finding lies not in the vacancy duration itself, but in a second figure. On an annual average for 2024, approximately 439,000 jobs subject to social insurance contributions for skilled workers, specialists, and experts were reported. Just under half of these were in occupations facing labor shortages. However, only a quarter of the skilled workers registered as unemployed were seeking employment in precisely these occupations.
That is the crux of the problem, and rising unemployment figures do nothing to alleviate it. The job market is divided into two segments. The people who are available and the open positions do not match up professionally. You cannot tap into the job market for drywall and finishing work with a better job posting if the people looking for work have been trained in something else.
At the same time, the order situation is picking up. The Federal Statistical Office reported nominal revenue in the main construction sector of 12.3 billion euros for November 2025, up 6.8 percent from the same month a year earlier, with new orders up 8.5 percent from the previous month. More orders with the same limited workforce do not mean growth. It means having to choose among orders that one would actually have liked to accept all of them.
What 301 Days Actually Cost
Now things are getting uncomfortably specific. The following calculation is explicitly a model calculation, not a statistical analysis. If you plug in your own numbers, it becomes reliable.
Step 1: Determine the days off. Based on a five-day workweek, 301 calendar days correspond to approximately 215 workdays.
Step 2: Calculate the contribution margin per productive employee day. Let’s assume 350 euros for this example. This is an estimate, not an actual figure. Your actual value is calculated based on your hourly rate minus direct costs.
Step 3: Multiply. 215 workdays multiplied by 350 euros equals 75,250 euros in lost contribution margin over the duration of the vacancy.
Step 4: Subtract the compensation. No company would let a position go completely unfilled. Some of the workload is covered through overtime, reassignment, or subcontractors. Let’s assume you make up for half of it. That leaves about 37,600 euros.
But this compensation isn’t free. Overtime is paid at a premium. Subcontractor services are purchased at a markup. If you purchase half of the services at a markup of 25 to 40 percent, the 37,600 euros in lost contribution margin will be compounded by additional five-figure costs.
Do the math. It takes five minutes, and it’s the most honest figure you’ll get in this discussion.
The costs that don’t appear on any invoice
Delay. Construction contracts include contractual penalties. A delay caused by a shortage of personnel is not a legally valid excuse. You’ll end up paying twice: the lost contribution margin and the penalty.
Rejected orders. The most expensive job is the one you don’t even bid on because you know you won’t be able to put together the crew. These costs don’t show up anywhere in the books because they never existed as a transaction.
Staff turnover in the rest of the team. Ten months of understaffing mean ten months of extra workload for everyone else. The most likely time for the next layoff is when the previous one hasn’t yet been filled. This turns one open position into a second one.
Quality and rework. Work crews operating under constant pressure work faster but less accurately. Rework costs materials, time, and, in some cases, customers.
And it depends on where you’re building
The time it takes to fill a vacancy is not just a matter of the occupation, but also of the location. The Federal Employment Agency also breaks down these figures by federal state, and the range is considerable.
- Rhineland-Palatinate: 206 days
- Brandenburg: 186 days
- Saxony-Anhalt: 177 days
- Germany as a whole: 165 days
- Berlin: 134 days
There are 72 days between Rhineland-Palatinate and Berlin. For a company that serves construction sites in both regions, this means: the same position, the same job posting, the same pay—and a difference of more than two months in the duration of the assignment.
Anyone building in rural areas also faces competition from people’s willingness to commute. A job located forty kilometers outside the nearest major city is, statistically speaking, not the same as one in an urban area—even if the job posting says otherwise. You can only compensate for this factor to a limited extent through compensation, because it isn’t about the money but rather the applicants’ life plans.
When it comes to international recruitment, this dynamic is reversed. For someone who is moving to a different country anyway, the difference between a city and its surrounding area is significantly less relevant than it is for a skilled worker who already has a home, a family, and a circle of friends in Germany. Companies in economically disadvantaged regions therefore benefit relatively more from international recruitment than companies in metropolitan areas. This is one of the few areas where the rural setting is an advantage rather than a disadvantage.
However, this is contingent on your actually being able to arrange housing and transportation. Anyone who brings a worker to Germany and then fails to provide housing has not recruited that person, but has instead issued a notice of termination with advance notice.
What Works and What Doesn’t
Based on experience, the following approaches no longer work in this market situation: higher salaries alone, posting more job listings on the same portals, or waiting longer for the right candidate. These are strategies for a market where candidates are generally available and simply need to be convinced. With a vacancy duration of 301 days, that is precisely no longer the case.
What provides structural support is expanding the search area beyond Germany. And this is where the construction industry faces a unique challenge that many companies are unaware of.
The path to construction is shorter than expected
When it comes to international recruitment, most companies first think of certification procedures, dealing with government agencies, and waiting periods of one year. This is indeed the case for regulated professions. We’ve outlined how this translates into numbers here: Certification Statistics 2024.
It does not apply to unskilled and semi-skilled labor on construction sites. Under the Western Balkans Regulation pursuant to Section 26(2) of the Employment Ordinance, workers from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia may be admitted for any type of employment—regardless of formal qualifications. The prerequisites are a specific job offer and approval from the Federal Employment Agency. No recognition procedure is required.
This streamlines the process to what actually takes time: selecting suitable candidates, preparing all the necessary documents, and scheduling the visa appointment. That’s something you can plan for. It’s not quick in the sense of just a few weeks, and anyone who promises you that is trying to sell you something. But it’s significantly shorter than 301 days, and above all, it’s predictable.
The information in this article is provided for general guidance only and is not a substitute for legal advice.
Calculate your own vacancy costs. Or contact us directly—we offer a free initial consultation, and we’ll call you back.
Read more
- 2024 Certification Statistics: 987 chefs, 21,699 nursing staff
- Recruiting Costs: What Recruiting Really Costs
Sources
- Federal Employment Agency: Occupations with Labor Shortages — Occupations with the Longest Job Vacancy Periods in Germany, April 2025 through March 2026.
- Federal Employment Agency: Job Vacancy Duration by Skill Level and by Federal State, April 2025 through March 2026.
- Federal Employment Agency: Skilled Workers Still in Demand. Press Release No. 25, 2025.
- Federal Statistical Office: New Orders in the Main Construction Sector in November 2025. Press Release No. 027, 2026.
