Distinct Change in the Structure of Immigration

Recently, the number of immigrants to Germany, especially from the eastern and southeastern European countries that joined the EU in 2004 or 2007, has risen sharply. In addition, migration from southern Europe has regained importance. Many migrants have come to take up some training, the vast majority, however, for employment. These migration flows are having distinct effects on the recent development of the labor market. For example, additional jobs in Germany are increasingly being filled by foreign workers, but there are also more foreigners among the ranks of the unemployed. The unemployment rate is roughly twice as high among immigrants as among Germans. Although the qualification structure of the migrants living in Germany has improved markedly because of immigration in recent years, a considerable share– one-third – of the workers who migrated recently has no formal vocational qualification. But those who do also have difficulty integrating into the labor market: migrants – including those who moved to Germany in recent years – relatively often have only simple jobs, even though they are qualified for better ones. It remains to be seen whether the most recent procedural changes for recognition of foreign qualifications will remedy the situation. It is difficult to predict how immigration will develop in the coming years. In all likelihood, immigration from Romania and Bulgaria will increase when these countries’ citizens are granted full freedom of movement. Many of them took advantage of the southern European labor markets open to them when their countries joined the EU – and are now confronted with the dire employment conditions there. For this reason, migration flows may take a different direction in the future.