Immigration as a key: Osnabrück's path to more specialists

Immigration as a key: Osnabrück's path to more specialists

Osnabrück- In a current conversation by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK), leading representatives emphasized that immigration from abroad is of crucial importance for the German economy. Beate Jakobs, Vice President of the IHK, pointed out that the proportion of foreign employees has been more than tripled in the past two decades, which has significantly contributed to the growth of the number of employment. Despite this positive development, the complex law of immigration continues to turn out to be a hindering. According to Jakobs, many companies find the immigration process too bureaucratic.

The urgency of the topic was also underlined by Vanessa Ahuja, the attendant for services and international things at the Federal Employment Agency. She made it clear that if immigration and unused domestic potential are not increasingly opened, Germany must expect a loss of around seven million workers by 2035. Although immigration from abroad cannot fully fix the shortage of skilled workers, it would help to improve the situation.

growing immigration and changed countries of origin

Currently, the annual net immigration is around 380,000 people, which is near the target brand of 400,000. However, there is a declining trend in immigration from European countries, which increases the need to gain specialists from other regions of the world. It was emphasized that the employment agencies have already taken measures to facilitate the recruitment and integration of foreign specialists. An example of this is the identification of 13 focus countries, from which workers should be specifically recruited to Germany. India is particularly emphasized here because the country has a large number of workers that cannot be fully employed in their own country.

Another positive aspect is that the new job turbo, a legal basis for the promotion of faster work, makes access for immigrants easier. However, Ahuja noted that despite these improved framework conditions, there are still considerable obstacles. The responsible authorities often lacked personnel and technical equipment, which hinders the quick implementation of these regulations. In this context, Ahuja also advocated creating central immigration authorities in the federal states in order to accelerate the recognition processes. Lower Saxony is backward compared to other federal states, which has a negative impact on the integration of foreign specialists.

Marco Graf, general manager of the IHK, also found that the IHK has been committed to the establishment of a central immigration authority for a long time. This would not only relieve the municipalities, but also make the entire recognition processes more efficient. Such an authority should be equipped with comprehensive skills in order to enable the new immigrants to get into the German labor market more smoothly.