Germany needs 400,000 immigrants every year to fill up job vacancies

Germany’s Federal Employment Agency has issued an urgent appeal to the government to allow more skilled immigrants into the country

The Federal Employment Agency of Germany has announced that it will invite qualified professionals from outside the European Union (EU) to work in Germany. They have promised a smooth and transparent process and has offered to lower all obstacles to the German Labour market for foreign workers from outside the EU.

“Germany is running out of skilled workers,” Detlef Scheele, chairman of the Federal Employment Agency told the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung recently.

“We need 400,000 immigrants a year. In other words, significantly more than in previous years,” said Scheele. “From nursing to air-conditioning technicians to logistics workers and academics: there will be a shortage of skilled workers everywhere.”

This decision comes at a time when Germany is on the verge of running out of skilled workers and that has set the alarm bells ringing. The government had in early 2020, tried to address the problem by initiating the Skilled Workers Immigration Act to boost skilled migration. It was meant to fast-track applications for visa and residence permit for foreign workers.

Unfortunately, that is when the first wave of COVID-19 struck and laid to waste all the new acts and measures that had been put forward by the government. Travel restrictions and lockdowns made matters impossible. Sadly, even Temporary Skilled Immigration fell by 3 percent.

The Agency wants to focus on targeted immigration to fill the gaping hole in the country’s job market. They are looking at either training unskilled workers and encouraging part-time women workers to work more, or bring the required number of skilled immigrants in to Germany.

Significantly, the Free Democrats (FDP), the smallest member of Germany’s nascent coalition government, has also announced its support for a considerable increase in immigration to secure the labour market. The new leader of the FDP’s parliamentary group, Christian Duerr, has recently extended his support to the move by the Agency.

“The head of the Federal Employment Agency talks about a need for immigration of 400,000 people per year. I think the figure is realistic and I want to justify it,” Duerr said in a statement. “Firstly, in terms of economic policy: Together with Japan, we are one of the oldest countries in the world. Workers are currently in demand in all sectors in Germany without exception. Our prosperity depends on whether we can manage this,” he further added.