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The Bundestag has passed a new law against the shortage of skilled workers. The traffic light finds the law central to securing prosperity – the opposition is screaming.
Mass unemployment was the problem in Germany around 20 years ago. Those times are over now. Never before have so many people in Germany worked as they do today.
We have to pull out all the stops to secure jobs and skilled workers
Even if there is now a lack of skilled workers, that is good news, stresses Labor Minister Hubertus Heil from the SPD. “If we don’t set the course, the problem will get bigger. From 2025, the baby boomer generation will retire. That’s why we have to pull out all the stops to secure jobs and skilled workers.”
According to a study, many of these so-called baby boomers even want to retire earlier. The problem is therefore becoming more explosive. According to SPD Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, almost two million jobs remained vacant at the end of last year. “The lack of skilled workers is considered one of the biggest brakes on growth for the economy in Germany,” says Faeser. There is a shortage of skilled workers in care, trades and schools.
Training should be recognized more easily
Many highly qualified people from abroad are currently still deciding against Germany. This often has to do with bureaucracy and the language. Berlin now wants to attract these people. In the future, their training should be recognized more easily and a points card with qualifications – similar to that in Canada – should reduce the hurdles when looking for a job in Germany.
Many employers would like even more simplifications. Asylum seekers can also switch to the labor market more easily. The Greens are happy about that. «Anyone who is already here has the opportunity to work as a specialist in our country. We give people who have been doomed to do nothing for decades the prospect of long-term employment in Germany.»
«Right to stay for persons obliged to leave the country»
Andrea Lindholz from the CDU opposition, on the other hand, thinks the whole thing is a sham. “It does say immigration of skilled workers, but it is above all the immigration of low-skilled people from all over the world and a new right to stay for those who are obliged to leave the country.”
Germany is not an immigration country. Germany is a homeland.
Germany is being made into junk, said Norbert Kleinwaechter from the AfD parliamentary group in a sweeping statement. «Germany is not an immigration country, Germany is a home country. We have the problem that we have far too many people in our country who don’t qualify and who don’t integrate, except into our social system.”
Now it’s time for implementation
The gap cannot be filled with German workers alone; but they, too, are to be promoted with a law. For example, they want to support young people in their search for an apprenticeship with a training guarantee. Konstantin Kuhle from the FDP thinks that everything stands and falls with the implementation.
“We are sending the right signals with this law, but we also have to be self-critical and we have to state that the migration administration in our country is currently not up to date. Because that is the case, today’s law is not the end of the discussion, but the beginning of a major immigration reform, including a reform of migration management,” says Kuhle.
It will probably be a long way. Because today it takes not only 17 applications for a nurse from abroad. Today, there is simply a lack of specialists in the administration.
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KEYSTONE/DPA/Sebastian Gollnow