Germany promises ‘Europe’s most modern immigration law’ to address worker shortage – 5/4/2023 – World

Germany will create one of the “most modern immigration regimes in Europe” to tackle a skills shortage that could become a “brake to growth”, Labor Minister Hubertus Heil said.

According to Heil, the reform is part of a broader campaign by the Olaf Scholz government to attract global talent to Germany, halt the country’s demographic decline and address the shortage of skilled workers that is becoming the main concern of some of its largest companies. .

In an interview with the Financial Times, the minister said that many industries are “desperate” for employees, a situation that “will only get worse” with the retirement of members of the baby-boom generation.

“Germany will be short of 7 million workers by 2035 if we don’t do something,” said Heil. “And that could end up being a real brake on our economic growth.” The reform, which must be approved by parliament in the coming weeks, will make it much easier for foreign workers to get jobs in the European country, removing many of the regulatory obstacles to immigration.

But some companies say it’s not enough. “[É] very bureaucratic,” said Thilo Brodtmann of the VDMA, a machinery industry body. “The German language requirements, for example, are excessive.”

In recent weeks, labor shortages have almost replaced supply chain bottlenecks as the main production constraint for many companies in Europe, especially Germany.

A shortage of workers is limiting production at 42% of Germany’s service companies, 34% of its industrial groups and 30% of construction companies, according to the European Commission’s latest quarterly survey. The problem may be getting worse. A study by the German Economic Institute revealed that the number of job openings in the country for which no qualified unemployed could be found reached a record 630,000 in 2022 – an increase of 280,000 compared to 2021.

Experts believe that the shortage of professionals also contributed to the recent wave of strikes that paralyzed Germany’s rail network and closed some of its biggest airports. Inflation and the cost of living crisis were the main triggers, but the tightening of the labor market gave unions greater bargaining power and encouraged them to resort to collective action.

The government’s new immigration law would allow foreigners to come to Germany to work even without a German professional qualification, Heil said. “It is enough that they have a work contract, some professional experience and professional training in the country of origin”, he added.

Germany will also adopt an “opportunity card” that allows you to earn points based on professional education and experience, if you have some connection to the country, speak German and are under 35 years old. “When people have enough points, they can come looking for a job,” said Heil, labor minister since 2018 and one of Germany’s oldest cabinet members.

Another bill to be submitted soon to the Bundestag, the German Parliament, would make it much easier for foreigners to acquire German citizenship and allow them to hold passports other than German – currently impossible for non-EU nationals. The government is also launching an international advertising campaign –under the slogan “Make it in Germany”–, with the aim of attracting foreigners to sectors particularly affected by the lack of qualifications.

Heil said that he and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Annalena Baerbock, will soon travel to Brazil to “talk about the existing opportunities in Germany, for example, in the assistance professions”.

He further said that he is taking action to combat the rising number of unskilled people in Germany. The country prides itself on a “dual education system” that combines theoretical training in the classroom with practical experience on the factory floor: many see the system as the foundation of Germany’s economic success. But fewer young people are doing internships than in the past. In 2022, only 469,000 began studying in the dual system, compared to 560,000 in 2011.

Heil said that 1.6 million people between the ages of 20 and 30 have no professional qualifications. “And often these people end up in long-term unemployment,” he said.

To combat the problem, the government drafted a bill that, according to him, would give all young people the right to a training position and financial incentives for them to enroll in a course. But experts say simplifying Germany’s complex rules for foreign workers will have the biggest impact on a job market that the economic institute says will require annual net immigration of 400,000 people by 2060 to maintain a steady supply of labor.

According to Heil, the government is determined not to repeat the mistakes of the 1960s, when a large influx of “Gastarbeiter” – guest workers – came from countries like Turkey, but it took years to be fully accepted by German society. “We didn’t help them integrate,” he said, adding that migrant workers “are not just workers.” “They want to be part of society, with the same rights and obligations as everyone else.”

Germany has learned from the example of Canada, where immigrants were “treated like human beings” and given the opportunity to become citizens, Heil said. “We will do the same in Germany.”

Translated by Luiz Roberto M. Gonçalves