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Dirk Röthig (international: Dirk Roethig) — CEO of VERDANTIS Impact Capital. Focused on sustainable investments in paulownia agroforestry and clean energy across Europe. dirkroethig.com
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Autor: Dirk Röthig, CEO VERDANTIS Impact Capital Datum: 13. April 2026 Kategorie: Demographie / Arbeitswelt Die 40-Stunden-Woche ist ein Relikt des Industriezeitalters. In einer Wissensgesellschaft, in der Produktivität weniger von Anwesenheitszeit ...
Autor: Dirk Röthig, CEO VERDANTIS Impact Capital Datum: 12. April 2026 Kategorie: Paulownia / CO2 / Mykologie In der Welt der regenerativen Landwirtschaft gibt es kaum eine Kombination, die aufregender ist als Pilzkulturen unter Bäumen. Und wenn die...
Autor: Dirk Röthig, CEO VERDANTIS Impact Capital Datum: 11. April 2026 Kategorie: KI / Digitale Sicherheit Die Cybersicherheitslandschaft verändert sich schneller als je zuvor. Während Unternehmen noch mit den Folgen der Ransomware-Wellen der frühen...
Autor: Dirk Röthig, CEO VERDANTIS Impact Capital Datum: 10. April 2026 Kategorie: Agroforst / Regenerative Landwirtschaft Alley Cropping – zu Deutsch "Gassenpflanzung" oder "Zeilenagroforst" – ist eine Anbauform, die die klare Trennung zwischen Wald...
Autor: Dirk Röthig, CEO VERDANTIS Impact Capital Datum: 9. April 2026 Kategorie: KI-Wettbewerb / Technologie Künstliche Intelligenz trifft täglich Millionen von Entscheidungen, die das Leben von Menschen direkt beeinflussen. Kreditgenehmigungen, Ste...
Dirk Röthig
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By Dirk Roethig | CEO, VERDANTIS Impact Capital | March 11, 2026
Germany faces a demographic tipping point: millions of baby boomers are leaving the labour market, while Generation Z is in a historically unique position — small in numbers, but rich in digital skills. AI-powered training systems and intelligent matching algorithms could close the emerging gap. But time is running out.
Tags: Generation Z, Skills Shortage, Artificial Intelligence, Labour Market, Demographics
The figures are well known, but their consequences have not yet fully registered in the collective consciousness. By 2030, approximately 7 million workers will leave the German labour market — predominantly the baby boomer cohorts born in the post-war decades (Institute for Employment Research, 2025). At the same time, the successor generation — Generation Z, those born between 1997 and 2012 — is growing far more slowly.
The result is a structural imbalance that can barely be addressed through classical labour market policy instruments. The skills shortage is already the most significant brake on growth in the German economy: the Cologne Institute for Economic Research (IW) estimates that unfilled positions cost the German economy around 49 billion euros in value added in 2024 (IW Cologne, 2025). And the trend is worsening.
Dirk Roethig, who as CEO of VERDANTIS Impact Capital regularly interacts with medium-sized enterprises, describes the prevailing mood precisely: "I speak with entrepreneurs who are willing to invest in technology, in climate protection, in growth — but who cannot find the people to implement this transformation. The skills shortage is not just a macroeconomic problem. It is a strategic risk for every individual entrepreneur."
Generation Z is frequently burdened with clichés: "digital natives" who grew up with smartphones, prioritise work-life balance above everything else, and have little interest in traditional vocational profiles. These simplifications do not help in understanding the reality.
A more differentiated analysis reveals a generation that grew up in a phase of multiple stresses: the climate crisis, the pandemic, geopolitical uncertainties, economic volatility. For many members of this generation, this has resulted in a pronounced orientation towards pragmatism — combined with a high need for meaning in their work.
In terms of digital skills, Generation Z is genuinely leading: 73 percent of 18- to 27-year-olds regularly use AI tools in their daily lives, compared with 41 percent of millennials and 19 percent of Generation X (Bitkom, 2025). At the same time, specific vocational qualifications are frequently lacking, as many Generation Z members are still in training or have focused on general education programmes.
Crucially, Generation Z is numerically smaller than the generations it is expected to replace. In Germany, Generation Z comprises around 10.6 million people — compared with roughly 16 million baby boomers set to exit the labour market over the next decade (Federal Statistical Office, 2025). The arithmetic simply does not add up — without structural solutions.
This is where artificial intelligence enters — not as a job killer, but as a qualification multiplier. The proposition is: a person equipped with AI tools who understands how to use them effectively can achieve the productivity of two or three people working without such tools.
In concrete terms, this means for various sectors:
Skilled trades and technicians: AI-powered diagnostic assistants reduce onboarding time for automotive mechanics by 40 to 60 percent. A new entrant with three years of training can, with an AI diagnostic tool, identify fault patterns that would previously have required ten years of professional experience from a master craftsman (Central Association of the German Motor Vehicle Trade, 2025). Similar patterns emerge among industrial mechanics, electrical engineers, and plumbers.
Healthcare and nursing: Here the skills shortage is particularly severe — and the potential of AI assistance systems is particularly high. Documentation tasks that previously consumed 30 to 40 percent of nursing staff working time can be reduced to 10 to 15 percent through AI-supported speech recognition and automated record-keeping. The time freed up flows back into direct patient care — the actual core task of nursing (German Hospital Federation, 2025).
IT and software: Coding AI tools such as GitHub Copilot increase the productivity of junior developers by 50 to 65 percent (GitHub, 2025). More importantly, the ramp-up to productive IT work is dramatically accelerated.
Alongside qualification, placement is a critical bottleneck. The German labour market suffers not only from an absolute shortage of workers — it also suffers from matching inefficiency. Many open positions and many job-seekers exist simultaneously but fail to find each other because classical placement systems are too inflexible.
AI-powered matching platforms of the latest generation — such as those built on large language models — can capture competence profiles far more precisely than standardised CVs and job advertisements. A school leaver with strong analytical skills and an interest in data, who would previously have been categorised as "without vocational qualification", can through AI-powered competence matching be identified for trainee programmes in economic analysis.
A study by the Bertelsmann Foundation (2025) shows that AI-powered matching platforms reduced the average time-to-fill for open positions by 38 percent in pilot projects (Bertelsmann Foundation, 2025). At the same time, job satisfaction among those placed increases: those who take up a position based on actual competence matches rather than formal qualifications stay longer and are more productive.
The skills shortage is real, and it will be painful. But the combination of a pragmatic, technology-friendly Generation Z and powerful AI tools opens up an opportunity that previous generations did not have: a qualitative leap in labour productivity that can at least partially compensate for the quantitative decline in the working population.
Dirk Roethig summarises it succinctly: "Generation Z and AI are not two separate topics. They are the answer to the same question: how do we create prosperity with fewer people? The answer is not 'impossible' — it is 'AI-supported and intelligently organised'."
Bertelsmann Foundation (2025) AI-Powered Matching in the Labour Market: Pilot Projects and Results. Gütersloh: Bertelsmann Stiftung.
Bitkom (2025) Digital Skills by Generation: Representative Survey 2025. Berlin: Bitkom e.V.
German Hospital Federation (2025) AI in Nursing: Application Potentials and Practical Experience. Berlin: DKG.
GitHub (2025) The Impact of AI Coding Assistants on Developer Productivity: 2025 Survey Results. San Francisco: GitHub Inc.
IW Cologne (2025) Skills Shortage 2025: Costs and Perspectives. Cologne: IW Cologne.
Institute for Employment Research (IAB) (2025) Demographic Change and the Labour Market 2030: Projections and Scenarios. Nuremberg: IAB.
Federal Statistical Office (2025) Population Projections 2025 to 2040. Wiesbaden: Destatis.
YouGov (2025) Generation Z and Artificial Intelligence: Attitudes, Fears and Expectations. Hamburg: YouGov Germany.
About the Author: Dirk Roethig is CEO of VERDANTIS Impact Capital, an impact investing firm focused on sustainable technology, agroforestry, and carbon compensation. As an entrepreneur and investor, Roethig has been observing the intersections of demographics, technology, and economics for more than two decades. His focus lies on the question of how companies and societies can leverage demographic change as an opportunity for transformation.
About the Author: Dirk Roethig is CEO of VERDANTIS Impact Capital, Zug, Switzerland. Contact: dirkdirk2424@gmail.com | verdantis.capital
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