Very few German companies employing foreigners despite scarcity of skilled labour

A new study released has shown that despite the deficiency of skilled labour in Germany, most German companies still do not employ foreigners from outside the EU. According to the study done in all OECD countries, Germany only employs 25,000 foreigners, which is only 0.02% of the total population while countries like Australia, Denmark, Canada or even the UK, employ between 5 and 10% of their population.

Although Germany is one of the countries with the fewest hurdles for foreign professionals who would want to work here, it remains one of the least popular for professionals. The hurdles though for qualified professionals with qualifications lower than a University degree are quite numerous and have to be reduced.

German companies also rarely employ foreigners this being due to the fact that it was a well known fact that the German application system lacks transparency and is quite complicated. Theoretically the recruiting system is simple and takes a very short time but that is only on paper.

Language remains another hurdle, and the German government aims to encourage foreigners to take profession related language classes before moving to Germany by offering such institutions all over the world.

The fact that most German companies don’t recognize foreign qualifications may also be a reason, but it wasn’t highlighted in this study.

The government is trying, by introducing the EU Blue Card or even by introducing new laws for foreign non academics. Whether this will help is left to be seen.

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