Just days before German Chancellor Olaf Scholz sets off on an official visit to India, his government approved a set of proposals aimed specifically at attracting qualified Indian personnel to help fill shortfalls in Germany’s need for skilled workers. Some 30 measures proposed in the main by Berlin’s Foreign and Labour Ministries were announced on Wednesday to encourage immigration from India in a bid to offset a lack of skilled workers in Germany that officials, business concerns and economists say threatens the country’s innovation and economic prospects.
Federal Labour Minister Hubertus Heil will accompany Chancellor Scholz to India next week. The main purpose of the government effort is that “Germany needs more economic dynamism, and that requires qualified skilled labour.” Facing critical staff shortages in such key sectors—caused in part by demographic change, the result of an ageing population—Germany has for some considerable time looked beyond its borders for the kind of qualified personnel it needs to augment, sustain, and keep its economy on a forward-moving trajectory.
“The situation in India is just the opposite”, Minister Heil said earlier this week when he noted that a “million new people” enter that country’s workforce monthly. Despite India being the world’s fifth-largest economy and the world’s most populous country, it simply could not absorb or keep pace with so sheer a number of potential workers, he said. Hence the push by India for more labour migration and why Germany views India as a significant partner in dealing with “the issue of skilled labour migration”, he said.
The hope is that the Berlin government’s new proposals will allow it to fill gaps in the health industry — in nursing homes and hospitals, for example — in addition to the IT and construction sectors. In the case of the IT sector, Germany has an acute need for more skilled workers, claiming it is unable to fill positions.
Recognising that its complex and often rigid bureaucracy presents a formidable challenge to many foreigners, the German government has said it plans to introduce a new digital visa by the end of 2024 to ease the migration of skilled labourers from India. It also plans a series of job fairs in India and will offer German classes for those intending to relocate.
Federal Labour Ministry statistics show that some 137,000 Indians were employed in skilled labour positions in February 2024, roughly 23,000 more than the year before. Back in 2015, the total number of Indians in such jobs was about 23,000. According to the latest statistics, joblessness among Indians living in Germany is 3.7%, almost half the overall unemployment rate of 7.1%.
