109,000 Open IT Roles – and Still Hard to Fill: What the 2026 Numbers Really Mean

109,000 open roles, 7.7 months average vacancy – and yet companies report fewer postings. A contradiction? Only at first glance.The figures from Bitkom's 2025 study on the IT labour market read like relief at first: around 109,000 open IT roles in Germany – well below the record of 149,000 back in 2023. Read only as a headline, it looks as if the talent shortage is slowly easing. Inside companies, the reality looks different.

Created by Oleksandra Razek

The apparent contradiction.

Despite the falling number of postings, 85% of companies report a shortage of IT specialists. 79% expect the situation to get worse. And once an IT role is advertised, it stays open for 7.7 months on average – just as long as two years earlier. Fewer postings at an unchanged vacancy time isn't a sign of relief. It's a sign of restraint.

The reason lies in the economy. Many companies are hiring more cautiously, delaying projects or freezing budgets. Demand hasn't vanished – it's backed up. As soon as the economy picks up, that backlog meets the same scarce talent pool as before.

Why filling roles takes so long.

The 7.7 months is the truly interesting figure. Because the Bitkom data shows it rarely fails on a lack of interest, but on fit. The most common reasons roles stay open:

  • Salary expectations don't match qualifications (63%) or don't fit the company's pay structure (56%)

  • Candidates unwilling to relocate (44%)

  • Companies, in turn, can't meet requests for remote work (43%) or flexible hours (29%)

Put differently: the market isn't empty, but it's tightly run. It's not about getting more CVs, it's about finding the few genuinely fitting profiles – and doing it faster than the competition.

What companies should take from this.

At 7.7 months of vacancy, whoever keeps betting on volume – post a role, wait, sift applications – loses twice: time and margin. Every month an IT role stays open costs productivity, delays projects and ties up internal resources. The lever isn't more reach, it's a more precise, faster process: a clearly defined profile, active outreach instead of passive waiting, pre-qualified candidates instead of ATS stacks.

The 2025 Bitkom numbers are no reason to relax. They're an invitation to honestly review your own recruiting process. Because the shortage isn't getting smaller – it's just better hidden.

 

→ Your IT roles stay open too long? Let's lower your time-to-hire together – book a call.

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