As I have blogged before, a shrinking workforce is acting as a brake on the German economy.  According to the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce DIHK Germany needs 400,000 engineers, master craftsmen and skilled workers.  One of the worst areas of shortage is engineering, where according to the Association of German Engineers there are about 80,000 unfilled positions.  DIHK estimates that German economic growth has been reduced by one percent by the labour shortage and that the problem is getting worse. But since 2008 more people have been emigrating from than immigrating into Germany and the German government is trying to reverse this trend.  On May 1, 2011 Germany and Austria opened their labor markets to citizens of the Eastern European countries that joined the EU in 2004.

The Bundestag has recently adopted a bill to implement the 2009 EU directive on highly qualified employment. The “Blue Card” is intended as a new, unbureaucratic way for graduates and people with similar qualifications from outside the EU to enter Germany’s labour market. The requirements for non-EU graduates to be issued a Blue Card are an employment contract with an employer in Germany at an annual salary of more than €44,800 per year.  For occupations faced with a skills shortage, such as engineers, the salary threshold is just under €35,000.  After Blue Card holders aaquire a sufficient level of German language skills, they will be granted a permanent settlement permit for Germany after just 21 months.  The act also makes it easier to employ foreign students and foreign graduates from German higher education institutions. The period during which foreign graduates are allowed to search for  employment in Germany has been extended to 18 months.

This is seen as the foundation on which Germany will become more competitive in the international labour market and is seen as an answer to the U.S. Green Card.  Canada also strives to attracts skilled labour.  About 280,000 people immigrated into Canada last year.  Germany has already improved the legal basis for increased immigration of skilled labour. According to Philipp Rösler, Federal Minister of Economics and Technology, to challenge now is “to establish a genuinely welcoming culture for foreign skilled workers.”