According to the German Economic Institute, Germany needs around 400,000 foreign-skilled workers every year to meet the labor shortage. There is now a political consensus that Germany should be an immigration country. The most popular argument in this field is the benefit of immigration against the shortage of skilled workers.
Currently, there is a record number of people in employment in Germany. Of the roughly 83 million people in the country, 45.6 million are employed. For decades, the shortage of skilled workers due to demographic change has been known. Around 22 million people with a so-called migration background live in Germany.
In Germany, almost two million positions are currently vacant. Experts such as Professor Herbert Brücker from the Institute for Labor Market and Occupational Research are therefore calling for net immigration of 400,000 to 500,000 people from abroad every year. This is the only way to keep the labor force potential constant.
Where are the greatest shortages of skilled workers?
The Institute of German Economics (IW) in Cologne regularly examines the sectors in which there is a particularly large shortage of skilled workers. The top 10 include:
- Building electrics
- socio-pedagogical specialists in school social work, in youth and child work or in old people’s homes
- geriatric nurses
- educators
- automotive technology
- Sanitary, heating, and air conditioning technology.
Efforts of the Federal government
The federal government has set itself the goal of attracting more people from countries outside the EU to work in Germany and wants to significantly lower the barriers to immigration. The economy praises the initiative but also demands: In order for more people to be integrated into the German labor market, the structures abroad, but also here, must be improved. In addition, too many who immigrate go back to their home countries because there is a lack of a welcoming culture in this country or because the German bureaucracy is giving them problems.
Role of Asylum seekers and Duldung holders in the labor market
Germany could also benefit from Asylum seekers. Of the 250,000 tolerated (Duldung status holders) persons in Germany, almost 75 percent are of working age. It means there are 190,000 people who can work in the labor market to fulfill the shortage of workers.
Immigration barriers
1- Onwards migration
Foreign skilled workers also leave Germany again because they do not feel safe here or have completed their training or studies. As far as the length of stay in Germany is concerned, employees with unskilled jobs remain the shortest. This is usually due to the fact that they usually have few opportunities for advancement there. Other immigrants cannot find a job at all and therefore leave the country.
2- Language skills
Employment prospects and integration are often hampered by a lack of language skills. More than half of the respondents had not completed a language course before or immediately after immigrating.
3- So-called discrimination
Two-thirds of the highly qualified specialists from non-European countries also stated that they had been discriminated against in Germany.
4- Residence reasons
A quarter of the surveyed workers from third countries left Germany for residence reasons. Another quarter of those surveyed give professional reasons, such as the end of a temporary job, the beginning of unemployment, or because the professional qualifications acquired in their home country have not been recognized.
5- Other reasons
Other various economic and individual factors influence the length of stay, including housing that is too expensive, the cost of living too high, unrealizable family reunification, lack of integration and completed wealth accumulation. Often several motives are decisive for the immigrants to leave Germany again.