Migrants help fill gap in Germany’s science and tech sectors

Germany is facing a lack of qualified workers in its growing science and technology sectors—but this is partly compensated for by a rise in skilled workers from other EU countries, according to a report by the Cologne Institute for Economic Research.

According to the report, there are currently 137,100 people with a scientific or technical degree missing from the German workforce. The country’s lowering of the retirement age from 65 to 63 in 2014 is cited as a key factor in this skills gap.

But the gap would be wider were it not for skilled labor from abroad. The number of workers in the “MINT” sector (mathematics, information, natural sciences, and technology) grew by 11.3% from 2012 Q4 to 2014 Q3, four times higher than the increase of native German workers.

Significant migrant groups working in MINT roles include those from Spain—prompted to seek work elsewhere in the wake of the economic crisis—as well as the central and eastern European countries that have more recently joined the EU, notably Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria.

However, foreign workers are more likely to find employment in the country’s western states, such as Baden-Wuerttemberg, Hesse, and Bavaria, where 8–11% of the MINT workforce is foreign. In eastern Germany, considered to be more hostile to immigration, the figure is around 2%. The report warns that xenophobia poses a risk to the economic strength of the eastern states.

Abdurrahman Aydemir, in his IZA World of Labor article on skill-based immigration, economic integration, and economic performance, argues that benefiting from highly skilled immigrants requires a complementary mix of immigrant selection and economic integration policies.

He writes that: “Developed countries are increasingly competing for high-skilled immigrants, who perform better in the labor market. However, there are serious challenges to their economic integration, which highlights a need for complementary immigration and integration policies.”

Read more here.

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Skill-based immigration, economic integration, and economic performance by Abdurrahman Aydemir