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Immigrant workers 'paid less' than native peers

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Immigrant workers 'paid less' than native peers
Photo: DPA

Immigrants working in Germany who come from poorer countries get paid just over half of their native colleagues' salaries, it was reported on Wednesday. Poor language skills and a lack of qualifications appeared partially to blame.

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The average wage of an immigrant worker was 64 percent of a German employee, according to data collected and analysed by the Nuremberg Institute for Job Market and Career Research (IAB).

In the study containing the new figures, analysts explained that Germans were often better qualified and on average six years older than their immigrant peers.

But poor German skills often stood in the way of better pay, as did having qualifications that did not match national standards, the study said. It added that a lack of language skills often pushed newcomers to apply for jobs with low application requirements.

But hope is at hand for incoming workers, as the state-funded “Training on the Job” programme last year saw countless immigrants improve their German and gain qualifications that help them climb the career ladder.

Most commonly affected by wage disparity were people coming from Turkey and the former Yugoslavia. In comparison to them, Hungarians and Czechs did not do too badly.

The study added that Americans, Austrians, Brits and the Dutch often earn more than the German average because they often arrived with a specialist skill.

DAPD/The Local/jcw

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