In the 1960s, Germany recruited millions of unskilled workers from Greece and Turkey to help rebuild the country from the ashes of World War II. Now the focus is on highly skilled professionals – something the struggling nations of Europe’s southern rim have in abundance. With a shrinking labour force and buoyant economy, Germany again needs skilled workers to keep its industrial engine churning forward.
Increasingly, it’s seeking them from Greece and other European laggards like Spain and Portugal where unemployment is soaring amid fears of financial implosion. Germany quickly overcame the financial meltdown that started in 2008 and unemployment is now at a 20-year low of 6.6 per cent. Companies are so desperate to fill skilled labour shortages that the government has taken to organising matchmaking sessions between German firms and job seekers from crisis-hit countries. Greek civil engineer Christos Kotanidis moved to Erlangen in southern Germany three months ago and quickly found work with industrial giant Siemens.
Unemployment in Greece is currently at 16.7 per cent, but among young people it is even higher with more than 42 per cent of people under 24 not finding any work. In Spain, overall unemployment hovers at around 20 per cent, and more than 45 per cent of people under the age of 25 are without a job. Portugal, Italy and Ireland, the other countries bearing the brunt of the debt crisis, also have bleak employment pictures. There are no hard numbers on how many professionals from Europe’s crisis zone have been hired in Germany. Immigration to Germany has shot up by 13 per cent in the past five years, and more than half of the newcomers are from within the European Union. EU citizens do not need to apply for a visa or work permit if they take a job within the bloc.
The Association of German Engineers estimates that Germany has 80,000 engineering jobs that need to be filled; the nation’s physicians’ association says the country’s hospitals require more than 12,000 doctors. The government said this year there’s a shortage of 66,000 information technology specialists. Over the past few months, the Federal Employment Agency has organized several meetings to match German companies with job applicants in Spain, Portugal and Greece.
