BERLIN — The Association of German Engineers, or V.D.I., is desperate. It needs 70,000 engineers, and quickly.

Its members, consisting of large and small companies, are scouting the universities and schools for mechanical, electronic and machine-building engineering graduates or trainees to sustain Europe’s biggest and most successful export-driven economy.

As it is, it takes an average of 114 days to fill an engineering post, according to the V.D.I.

Some help is at hand, thanks to the economic crisis in Spain, Portugal and Greece, where youth unemployment has soared to an average of 50 percent.

As a result, thousands of young, educated graduates from these countries are migrating to Germany, helping to make up the shortfall of engineers and other professionals.