Munich Tops the List for AI Job Advertisements

As part of the project “Developing and measuring the digitalisation of the economy in Germany”, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK) has prepared an expert report on the AI requirements of the German economy. To this end, the regional distribution and requirement profiles of AI job advertisements in the period from 2019 to 2021 were analysed.

The number of AI job advertisements rose from 10,940 to 11,537 in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same period last year, continuing the trend of recent years.

The demand for AI specialists is focussed on individual companies and research institutions. Two thirds of job adverts were placed by companies that have advertised at least five AI positions.
From a regional perspective, most AI jobs are advertised in regions with a strong infrastructure, such as metropolises and their immediate surroundings. Positive location factors include, in particular, proximity to universities and research institutes as well as a favourable start-up climate. In terms of federal states, the city states, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Hesse account for the largest number of advertised AI positions. The undisputed leader among the cities is Munich, followed by Frankfurt am Main, Stuttgart and Karlsruhe.

With regard to the requirement profiles of AI job adverts, there is a trend towards requiring specific knowledge, particularly in the area of cloud computing. Specialised degrees in more recent courses of study such as data science and data engineering are also increasingly in demand. In contrast, the importance of several years of professional experience is decreasing.