With an intention to bait more skilled employees to Germany and address the skill shortages, the officials of German have announced a scheme to overhaul the nation’s immigration system. The new proposal is presented by Social Democrats, German party Chancellor, Angela Merkel ’s coalition, to meet the growing skill shortages in the country.
The officials of party said that the proposal also intends to better manage and assimilate the rising figure of immigrants who are entering to Germany.
Even, a group of lawmakers are urging the government to do more to allure number of trained employees from overseas. Under the proposal, overseas nationals or non-European immigrants could acquire residency in Germany based on their language and professional skills. The plan would comprise a yearly immigration quota, as well as new work permit, which will be issued for a period of three years initially. The pay for new comers would subject to existing region and industry – specific collective income deals.
The new proposal is a point’s based system, where applicants are awarded points, based on the employment, language skills and other factors, and secured points are used to determine applicant’s capability for work and residency permit.
Need for Skilled Immigration
According to the recent official figures, a total of 1.2 million individuals migrated to Germany in 2013, representing a rise of 13% earlier that year and maximum number since 1993. The report also states that during the initial six months of previous year, the count of immigrants increased by 20% when compared with the initial half of 2013. The Germany government anticipates higher immigration level in this year as well. According to the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), surge in immigrants influx to Germany has made the country as the second most desirable destination for immigration after the United States.
Presumably, more than 50 younger lawmakers from Ms. Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union pushing for a transparent, clear and understandable immigration law in order to make Germany has more enviable for skilled immigrants.
Apparently, Germany requires immigration, as within 15 years, twice as many individuals will retire each year and already the country is noticing lack of skilled workers in various sectors. Sources said that labor market experts as well as business lobby groups have also supported the new proposal to encourage immigration. According to the BDA Federation of German Employers, Germany is likely to face lack of 1.7 million skilled employees by 2020. The huge scarcity of skilled employees will be seen in various key sectors such as manufacturing, health care and engineering.
A spokesperson from BDA said that Germany need immigration to address the labor market and for social security systems to stay functioning in spite of a shrinking labor force. Thus, it is required to make the immigration law more clear and facilitate the procedures.
