The federal government wants to combat the shortage of skilled workers in Germany with more training places, the expansion of further training and the influx of qualified workers.
The skilled labor strategy adopted by the Federal Cabinet is also intended to increase the participation of women in working life. Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) told the German Press Agency: “Securing skilled workers is a vital issue for our country, for our prosperity and thus also for social cohesion.”
Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) said, according to a statement: “The pressure to act is high. Our economy urgently needs more skilled workers.” Together with the social partners, the government has redesigned the skilled labor strategy in order to attract more skilled workers at home and abroad, says Heil. In order to make it easier for more qualified specialists from abroad to access companies and businesses in Germany, the traffic light will present the key points for a modern immigration law in the autumn.
Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) said: “With almost two million, there are more jobs open in Germany than ever before.” Stark-Watzinger described an “excellence initiative for vocational training” as an “essential building block”. The minister emphasized that young people should be better able to prepare for vocational training. Grammar schools would be more involved in vocational orientation. This should be “open to education” – so it should not just result in universities as the next step after school. Both academic and vocational training could be “great stepping stones” into working life.
Lots of new challenges
Habeck pointed out the domestic potential. This also applies to older people “who decide for themselves that they want to work longer”. Heil said that the potential in their own country also includes young people without training, mothers and fathers who work part-time involuntarily or employees who have missed out on new technologies and should now be given more support.
The government counts the transformation processes of digitization, demographic change and decarbonization, i.e. the departure from fossil fuels, as one of the growing challenges for securing skilled workers. This is changing Germany as a business location with increasing dynamism. “In addition, there are the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the economic consequences of the war in Ukraine and the increasingly necessary adjustments to the ongoing climate change.”
In order to cope with this, it is essential to secure and expand a good base of skilled workers in Germany. Securing skilled workers also contributes to “making the social security systems fit for the future.”
