Armament producers in Europe now have many orders, but also a big problem: “If they were available, I would hire them immediately”

Pavel Cechal recognizes that the Czech weapon company for which he works has enough orders to double his workforce, the problem is that he does not find new employees, writes Reuters, taken over by Agerpres.

In fact, this problem is a common one for many companies in the Defense Industry in Europe, where governments increase ammunition, tanks and other weapons, in response to US President's warnings, that Washington should not rely so much.

Cechal is vice president for operations at PBS Group, whose production facility at Velka Bites, two hours from the capital Prague, has 800 employees. The Czech company wants to hire.

“If they were available, I would hire them immediately”

“If there were available workers on the labor market, we immediately hired the majority. We have something to work on,” said Pavel Cechal, adding that PBS Group has increased wages by 8% last year and intends to resort to a new 10%, in 2025 to attract new talents.

“Currently, we are hiring at all levels of the company,” Cechal added.

While the plans of the Community Bloc to spend 800 billion euros for defense are expected to create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the next decade, the offer available of specialized engineers and analysis of data, as well as sweat and mechanics is limited.

Reuters spoke with over a dozen companies, recruitment companies and workers who say that, beyond increasing wages and benefits, weapons manufacturers have started to recruit workers from other sectors and seek potential workers among students and local students.

Companies say that if they increase wages another problem arises

PBS Group has decided to move to a higher stage, beyond collaborating with schools and universities, says Milan Macholan, the general manager of the Velka Bites plant. “We started our own school where we are preparing our own employees,” says Milan Macholan.

The Franco-German KNDS group, which produces self-propelled Caesar howitzers, has introduced new exchanges to the company's main plant, from Bourges, the center of France, and increased 50% annual rhythm.

Recruitment remains a crucial problem, says Nicolas Chamussy, operations director at KNDS France, adding that there is a limit on how much salaries can be increased.

“Remember that we are in a war economy, but we are also in an economic war. If our salaries increase uncontrollably, we will be less competitive,” says Nicolas Chamussy.

“We cannot produce a Caesar system as a Peugeot 308”

Experts in AI who can develop autonomous armament systems as well as people with the necessary expertise in small volumes are in high demand, underlines industry players.

“We cannot produce a Caesar system (self-propelled cannon) like a Peugeot 308. You have to master a very, very specific know-how that requires a very specific set of skills. And these are rare on the labor market,” says KNDS spokesman Gabriel Massi.

The Kearney consulting company calculated that an increase in the defense expenses up to 3% of GDP, from the current NATO target of 2% of GDP, would require up to 760,000 new skilled workers in Europe. “The independence of Europe in the defense policy will be possible only if the local share of defense expenses would increase dramatically, which would further aggravate the personnel crisis,” says Guido Hertel, a partner in Kearney, in a recently published report.

Rheinmetall, the largest ammunition producer in Europe, is going to increase its workforce by about 29%, or about 9,000 employees, by 2028, first of all with product development specialists, engineers, sweat and electronists.

The submarine and frigate manufacturer Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems wants to hire 1,500 employees at its Naval sites in Wismar, northern Germany. The company participates in the job fairs but says that the deficit of experts in mathematics, IT and science is a challenge, a point of view shared by the Italian group Leonardo.

“In the past, the fact that we were offering safe and quality work contracts was enough to guarantee our leader position, but currently young people prefer sectors than the industry,” says the Italian company, who has started looking for employees in universities and schools with a technical profile.

Workers no longer need the auto industry could be a solution

Emplah Karaca, who worked for 25 years at the manufacturer of continental car components in Gifhorn, who is about to close soon, to think to transfer to a Rheinmetall plant located about 50 kilometers north.

But this father of three children also thinks of other options that do not involve a three -hour shuttle. “For 25 years I enjoyed the luxury of reaching five minutes at work,” says Karaca.

Problems in the automotive industry have helped the Czech Munition producer Stv Group recruit some of the over 200 workers who intend to add to the Vysoke Myto plant, 155 kilometers from Prague, until the middle of the following year, says David Hac president.

“Given that the situation in the automotive industry is, at present, for the first time, we are in the situation where we can choose who we hire,” Hac revealed