German firms face unprecedented labour shortages - DIHK

BERLIN (Reuters) - Labour shortages in Germany are threatening the whole economy as companies struggle to fill around 1.6 million job vacancies, the DIHK Chambers of Industry and Commerce said on Tuesday.

Nearly every second company is unable to find suitable candidates for job vacancies on a long-term basis and six in ten managers see the lack of qualified personnel as a threat to their business, a DIHK survey of some 24,000 companies showed.

"A growing number of German companies are facing bottlenecks in skilled labour and this is becoming a challenge for the entire economy," DIHK manager Achim Dercks said.

The government must increase its efforts to further boost the inclusion of women in the labour market, to expand vocational training and attract more skilled workers from abroad, Dercks added.

(Reporting by Michael Nienaber; Editing by Madeline Chambers)