According to surveys by the Federal Statistical Office, there are hardly any reserves left in Germany to replace missing or soon-to-be-retired skilled workers. According to the latest results of the micro-census, 87 percent of the population between the ages of 25 and 59 are already in gainful employment. For men it is even 92 percent, while 83 percent of women have a paid job.
The statisticians still see potential among part-time employees, who accounted for 30 percent of salaried employees last year. Almost every second employed woman (49 percent) works part-time; among men, the proportion has risen by 3.4 points to 12.7 percent since 2010. At least some of the part-time workers could be activated to work more, according to the statistics office. However, there are also people who could participate in working life alone in a part-time job.
Immigrants less likely to be employed
Immigrants are less likely to be employed for a variety of reasons. Their job rate is 74 percent, with women working far less frequently than men. Refugees in particular often do not initially have the right to take up work.
As a result, only 34 percent of people from the Near and Middle East are registered as employed in the first five years after immigration. For immigrants from Africa, the rate was 55 percent. After 15 to 20 years, rates have increased to 78 percent (Near and Middle East) and 73 percent (Africa). Immigrant EU citizens who enjoy full freedom of movement are 81 percent employed after five years and 87 percent 15 to 20 years after immigration – then exactly the value of the total population.
In the past year, numerous non-EU citizens once again immigrated to Germany to work. At the end of the year, 351,000 people with a temporary residence permit that entitles them to work were recorded in the central register of foreigners. That was 56,000 people or 19 percent more than a year earlier, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office on Thursday. The increase was therefore significantly stronger than in previous years. The number of registered migrant workers has been growing continuously since 2010.
Largest group: Academic specialists with the “Blue Card”
Two thirds of the people recorded were men. With 89,000 people, academic specialists with the so-called “Blue Card” make up the largest single group. Here many are from India (26,000), followed by people of Turkish and Russian origin. A prerequisite for the issuance of the “Blue Card EU” is a university degree and a specific job offer that is appropriate to the qualification and has a certain minimum salary.
Even without a blue card, non-EU academics can obtain a residence permit as a skilled worker if they have a specific job offer. Here the statistics reported 40,000 beneficiaries at the end of the year. Unlike the blue card, there is no minimum salary here.
According to the Skilled Immigration Act of 2020, 41,000 people have been registered so far. That was 13,000 more than a year earlier, an increase of 44 percent. The proportion of women was 58 percent. The largest groups were professionals from Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Philippines.
Around 62,000 non-EU citizens worked on the German labor market on the basis of the so-called “Western Balkans Regulation”. The rule, which expires at the end of 2023, allows temporary immigration from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia even without specialist qualifications.
