The success of German firms' searches for qualified personnel to fill openings in skilled occupations was examined through a statistical analysis of data from the Institut fur Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung der Bundesanstalt fur Arbeit's (IAB) establishment panel for 2000. An employer search model was used to explain the current German debate surrounding the additional demand for skilled labor. In the theoretical approach adopted, firms decided to use an optimal strategy for searching for new staff. For this purpose, firms set a minimum qualification level for applications with whom they concluded employment contracts. If qualification requirements must be determined exogenously, however, pursuing an optimal search strategy may become impossible and a firm's demand for labor may remain unsatisfied. Analysis of data from the IAB establishment panel established that it is particularly difficult for German employers to fill vacancies for engineers and computer scientists. Firms affected by unfilled vacancies often reported an absence of suitable applicants. The hypothesis of the search model was confirmed by multivariate analysis of the number of unfilled vacancies. Wage level, economic trends, and selected company characteristics also proved important. (Contains 14 figures and 19 references. Four tables presenting Poisson regressions, descriptions of the study variables, regional demographic structure types, and data on industry structure are appended.) (MN)