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| Germany Approves Plan to Make Skilled Immigration Easier |
| 22 July 2008 |
Germany is expected to ease rules to allow in foreign labor to help make the country more attractive to highly skilled individuals.
Germany's cabinet approved a plan on 16 July, 2008 that will attempt to reduce skilled labor shortages in sectors such as engineering and information technology.
"We have taken a step toward making Germany more competitive internationally," said Social Democrat Labor Minister Olaf Scholz, co-author of the plan with Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble.
"We are putting the conditions in place so that people can come here who can contribute to creating economic growth," he added.
According to estimates from the German government and other sources, the shortage of computer specialists, engineers, and other skilled workers is costing the country 20 billion Euros a year.
The approved measures include allowing graduates from new European Union member states to work freely in Germany from 01 January, 2009. These individuals will no longer have to prove that a German worker could not be found to fill the position.
To work in Germany, graduates from outside the EU will still have to show that a German citizen could not be found to fill the job. The German government will also reduce the wage that highly skilled foreign workers have to earn to be approved for a work permit from 86,400 euros to 63,600 euros.
However, the proposals also call for extending limits for an extra two years on unskilled labor from the newer EU nations that joined the European Union in 2004. Germany is one of a few EU nations that still impose labor restrictions on these countries.
The proposals drew a Luke-warm response from industry lobbies.
"The measures will scarcely be able to contribute to alleviating the shortage of expert workers," said August-Wilhelm Scheer, president of the Bitkom information technology, telecommunications and new media industry lobby.
Scheer proposed introducing a point based system similar to those used in the UK and Australia that would allow skilled overseas workers with the right criteria to work in Germany.
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