The government has turned to skilled Indian workers to address labour shortages and fill the most demanded professions in Germany, with the Chancellor’s Cabinet recently passing a draft with several measures that aim at regulating and streamlining the migration process of Indian nationals.
The country that has the strongest economy in the EU and one of the top five in the world is heavily dependent on new workers, as its ageing population and shortage of skilled workers is increasingly becoming worse, Schengen.News reports.
German Cabinet Passes New Measures to Help the Integration of Indian Workers
On October 16, Chancellor Scholz’s Cabinet passed a raft of 30 measures, many of which were proposed by the Labour and Foreign Ministries and that aimed at attracting skilled workers from India, as Deutsche Welle reported.
These measures include digitalising visas by the end of 2024, which could help Indian skilled workers have a streamlined migration process. Previously, the German government reduced the number of days for processing visas of Indian skilled workers from nine months to two weeks. Nearly 400,000 skilled workers in Germany could benefit from this measure.
The Federal Labor Office has also said that it will become more proactive in advising Indian college students already in Germany.
On top of that, the German government wants to offer German language classes to those who want to relocate to the country. The requirement for language skills is often one of the most discouraging factors for foreign workers coming to the country, especially Indians who are looking for job opportunities in English-speaking countries.
Number of Indian Employees in Germany Nearly Quadrupled Since 2015
According to data published by the Federal Labour Ministry, the number of Indians employed in skilled labour positions in 2015 was approximately 23,000.
This number reached 137,000 in February of 2024, representing an increase of 495 per cent for nearly one decade. Compared to 2023, the number of Indian employees in such positions increased by 23,000 more workers.
Current statistics also show that the unemployment rate, indicating the number of Indians living in Germany and who do not have a job, is 3.7 per cent, well below the overall unemployment rate of 7.1 per cent.
Source: https://schengen.news/germany-eyes-indian-talent-introduces-new-measures-to-attract-skilled-workers/
