• Germany edition
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Skilled migrants urgently needed, says minister

Published: 30 Jul 10 08:33 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/politics/20100730-28839.html

With Germany industry facing a looming skills shortage, Economy Minister Rainer Brüderle revealed on Friday he was planning a major recruitment drive to attract skilled migrants.

That included encouraging German firms to pay cash incentives to lure foreign workers, he told daily Handelsblatt.

“The question of how Germany becomes lastingly attractive to skilled migrants is right at the top of my agenda,” he said.

Part of the plan encourages payment of Begrüßungsgeld or “welcome money” for guest workers.

“It is conceivable that some businesses who can afford it and have an urgent need, pay skilled foreign workers an incentive,” he said.

He ruled out, however, using taxpayers’ money to subsidise skilled migrants to relocated to Germany.

Economists agree that Germany’s export-driven economy, which relies heavily on skilled workers such as engineers to develop its high-end manufactured goods to sell overseas, will be gradually eroded in years to come by a dearth of such qualified professionals.

“The skills shortage, and not unemployment, will in the coming years be the key problem for the German job market,” Brüderle said.

The Local (news@thelocal.de)

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10:10 July 30, 2010 by auniquecorn
Skilled migrants urgently needed, says minister,

The German Industry is taking the same route as the German Fussball league, Searching for skill.
10:29 July 30, 2010 by scout1067
Didn't the Germans do this once before in a big way back in the 50's?
13:56 July 30, 2010 by freechoice
one of the main obstacles to attract skilled professionals and making them stay here comfortably is the German language. Companies should provide every employees free German lessons up to the point they could read documents fluently. Otherwise people would just choose to go to US.

Germany is definitely much better than US for kids to grow up and for employees to work. Speaking from experience.
14:52 July 30, 2010 by JohnnesKönig
And yesterdays story was, 'Job miracle' stalls as unemployment rises in Germany...
15:25 July 30, 2010 by frankiep
Hell, I'm a skilled and educated migrant who has been sending out job applications for many months now and cannot even get a single interview. It sure looks to me like the only foreigners companies here even consider are those who are either unskilled and can be little, or those who have lived here long enough that they don't sound much like a foreigner when they speak. Germany may need skilled migrants, but the attitudes of most companies towards them does nothing to remedy that.
17:36 July 30, 2010 by William Thirteen
i gots numchuk skillz, where's my cash?

i arrived on these fair shores back in 2004 and it took me seven months to find a job. amusingly enough after a long fruitless search through germany's dark winter i ended up getting three offers in the same week - so hang in there frankiep!
18:04 July 30, 2010 by NYsteve
After reading some past articles on how some non-Germans are treated......I hope the new people recruited from areas outside of Germany are treated well.....especially since they are being ASKED to work in Germany.....I am not picking on Germany as this same problem exists here in the US........just want people to remember that "You can't have your cake and eat it too" as a side note...if any company in Germany needs a very experienced AutoCAD drafter/designer....and is willing to pay re-location costs to Germany....I'll go in a heartbeat!!!
20:19 July 30, 2010 by auslanderus
Why are there not people being trained here to fill these positions for skilled labor? When you have so many unemployed, why not train them to fill jobs instead of bringing people in?
20:50 July 30, 2010 by nightwish
I totally agree with you auslanderus.We have exactly the same problem in Britain,millions of unemployed yet the government still bring in thousands from abroad.
21:45 July 30, 2010 by canderson
Before Germany imports more immigrants, I think they should first consider training or retraining their unemployed citizens and returning them to the work force.
21:57 July 30, 2010 by ReaderX
Well it's actually cheaper to "import" the workers. Consider that they are already going to be trained. So training won't cost the Government. The immigrant workers will just need a place to live. Many who come out of poorer nations will be happy to move up as it were when coming to Germany, so what a German or otherwise might consider a horrible flat would be paradise to someone else. Further this housing won't cost the Government either. Since it will be paid by the future employer. Where-as on the other hand the Government has to house and train it's own nationals. Harz iv and the GIAG etc.

So in the long run a bit of Begrüßungsgeld isn't that much compared to a few years of harz iv and some Job training.
22:13 July 30, 2010 by DavidtheNorseman
ReaderX is right as to the reasoning, but I still see it as shortsighted. They do it here in Canada as well which is just insane as we have loads of underemployed and talented young people looking for decent and fulfilling work. Don't make the same mistakes we have and for goodness sake offer German youth the apprenticeship programs necessary. For more advanced positions such as Engineers offer upgrade programs to the people you already have who are underemployed (eg people who have Engineering papers who are sweeping streets etc) and guaranteed positions for new University entrants and you'll have it covered in no time....
22:46 July 30, 2010 by janreg58
Where do I apply?
09:16 July 31, 2010 by notelove2
I think there are a lot of people now unemployed here who have the skills to work and who want to work. Use them first
09:53 July 31, 2010 by garyh911
My wife and I just moved to Meissen, Germany where my wife who was offered a job here. I have a chemical engineering degree from the US and I would like to start looking for a job but we have gotten the runaround from the officials. I can#t get a residence card until I take german language lessons and without the card I can't get a job. So much for encouraging immigrants and assist with getting jobs.

Gary H
21:04 July 31, 2010 by Logic Guy
Well, I find it amazing in how humans struggle to understand even the most basic things.

Look at Greece. During acient times, the majority the the wrold's intellectuals were from that country and yet here to today, Greece is one of the most discfunctional.

Why can't humans learn even the simple things? Life here on earth is all about living efficiently and conservatively.

Every concept that opposes this equation has proven to be a

failure.
23:17 July 31, 2010 by mobiusro
http://www.thelocal.de/national/20100731-28859.html - that's why they need the skilled immgrants. To earn more money, thus pay more taxes, so that the % of germans that lazy around all day can have a more comfortable life. :)
20:06 August 1, 2010 by slawek
@auslanderus Simply put, German schools aren't capable to provide what the industry needs.

See what Brüderle said:

?"The skills shortage, and not unemployment, will in the coming years be the key problem ...?"

It doesn't mean he did find the cure for unemployment.

Basically he admits there is no feasible course of education for the unemployed, who certainly could fill in. It's a widely accepted waste of human resources. It would be considered a horror, if unemployed were allowed to study, etc.

There was however a Green Card program for IT professionals from India. About the same time when 30 000 professionals came to Germany from India, there were already 30 000 unemployed IT professionals listed.
22:00 August 1, 2010 by JohnnesKönig
Maybe if apprenticeship were available there would not be a shortage. Instead anyone seeking a job in these areas must pay up front for the schooling. If I were going to school, I would want the best paying job I could get.
17:09 August 5, 2010 by recherche
You would think an advanced, civilised country would manage it's affairs more efficiently, wouldn't you? Bringing in hordes of opportunistic migrants with a 3 month horizon is a stop-gap, short-term measure and is not a sustainable way of maintaining progress, or indeed of retaining what we have. The disruption to the cultural fabric of a country, built over centuries, will negate the putative attractions of such measures. The basic thing about humans is that their prosperity is related to a strong commonality of purpose. There are those who aggressively seek to destroy that in Europe.
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