Destatis: German worker shortage professions dependent on migrants

Employees with a migration background are overrepresented in professions where Germany has a labour shortage, figures published by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) have revealed.

Migrant workers overrepresented in German worker shortage professions

From factory work to hospitality, care work, transportation and logistics, the number of people who are migrants or have a recent migrant background and work in professions where there is a labour shortage in Germany is disproportionate to the population share with a migration background.

25,6 percent of the 83,5 million people living in Germany have a migration background, meaning they, both of their parents and or their grandparents, migrated to Germany since 1950. But in some sectors with a worker shortage, namely soldering and welding, people with a migration background make up as many as 60 percent of employees.

54 percent of cooks and 54 percent food manufacturing workers in Germany have a recent migration background, 48 percent of scaffolders and 47 percent of bus and tram drivers. 46 percent of employees in meat manufacturing, 45 percent in hospitality and 44 percent in synthetic materials and rubber production have a family migration history to Germany since 1950.

German hospitality industry is highly dependent on migrant workers

Of the sectors, rather than specific professions, hit hard by the worker shortage, it is hospitality which is most dependent on employees with a recent migration background. 54 percent of people who work in the German hospitality sector have a migration background.

In the building protection, gardening and landscaping sector 50 percent of employees have a migration background and in accommodation, 43 percent of employees. Surveillance and security (42 percent) and household staff (42 percent) round out the top five most dependent sectors.

Image credit: Destatis.de

The CDU/CSU-SPD coalition government’s toughening immigration rhetoric, which emphasises Germany’s need for “skilled workers” as opposed to workers to plug gaps in all sectors facing a shortage, means shortages are likely to continue well into the future.

In a special report published ahead of the federal election on February 23, the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) warned that economic stagnation is inevitable unless the country welcomes migrant workers.

According to the DIW, over the next four years, Germany's rate of economic growth is expected to decline to 0,4 percent per year, and will hit 0 percent by 2029 unless the problem is properly acknowledged and addressed.

4,7 million existing employees are expected to retire from or leave the German labour market between 2024 and 2028.  “Due to a demographic shift and baby boomers leaving the labour market, the German economy faces an increasing skilled and general worker shortage,” the DIW report explained.