Examples of Labour Immigration at National Level: GERMANY

First Immigration Policy 2.0 WorkshopFebruary 14th 2011

Dr. Carola Burkert

Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg/Germany

Working Group „Migration and Integration“

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AGENDA

1. Germany - an Immigration Country for the last 50 years?!

2. Managing Labour Migration in Germany

3. Managing Labour Migration in Germany - Results

4. Managing Labour Migration in Germany – Problem areas

5. Conclusion

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1. Germany - an Immigration Country for the last 50 years?!

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Germany - an Immigration Country for the last 50 years?!Immigration/Emigration, Foreigners, 1954-2009

Source: Federal Statistical Office, own graph

- 400 000

- 200 000

0

200 000

400 000

600 000

800 000

1 000 000

1 200 000

1 400 000

1 600 000

1950 1953 1956 1959 1962 1965 1968 1971 1974 1977 1980 1983 1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2007

Immigration Emigration Balance

Start of the

„Guest Worker Program“

Ban on RecruitmentFall of the „Iron Curtain“

New Immigration Act

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Germany - an Immigration Country for the last 50 years?!Balance of Immigration/Emigration, Foreigners, 2000-2009

Source: Federal Statistical Office, own graph

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

0

40000

80000

120000

160000

200000

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2. Managing Labour Migration in Germany

7Source: OECD; Liebig 2010

Economic Migration across the OECDPermanent Migration, Migration Categories, Selected Countries 2007

0 20 40 60 80 100

Sweden

Switzerland

Austria

United States

Norway

France

GERMANY

OECD average

Netherlands

Denmark

Canada

Italy

Australia

United Kingdom

Japan

Portugal

Work Accompanying family of workers Family Humanitarian Other Free movement

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Important Types of Labour Migration

2000 to 2004: „Green Card“ to attract highly skilled foreigners Since 2005: Immigration Act - Possibilities for

• higher education graduates from German universities

• skilled workers

• highly-qualified workers

• researchers

• self-employed

• (family members)

• (contract/guest-Workers; seasonal-workers)

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3. Managing Labour Migration - Results

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Some are more attractive than others….Qualifications of Migrants, selected countries, 2000 (in %)

Source: Docquier/Marfouk 2006,

Canada

USA

Australia

Japan

UK

Denmark

Germany

Spain

France

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

59%

42%

38%

35%

35%

26%

24%

17%

16%

12%

34%

30%

30%

29%

44%

14%

51%

9%

30%

23%

32%

35%

37%

31%

62%

32%

75%

High Middle Low

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4. Managing Labour Migration – Problem areas

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Factors which reduce the attractiveness of Germany (1/2)

Language is a huge barrier

Complicated immigration regulations

• „hard to understand“/“confusing“

• „lack of transparency“

• „different handling“ of identical issues by local authorities (e.g Green Card – foreigners´ registration office)

• long duration of the approval procedure

• different counter parts

• „one stop government“/approval procedure

Source:DIHK 2010

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Factors which reduce the attractiveness of Germany (2/2)

Recognition of foreign qualifications

• lack of information and transparency

• complicated Employer: bureaucratic procedure Lack of welcoming athmosphere

• feeling: „Not welcome“

• stereotypes

• signal: restraint on free movement (EU-Enlargement)

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Foreign Students: Leaving Germany after Graduation

Source: Bundesministerium des Innern 2011, IW 2011

Third country graduates: residence permit up to one year to enable them to seek employment

2009

• 18.497 graduates (third country)

• 3.440 residence permits for job seeking (19%) - success?

• 4.820 work permits for such graduates (26%) Period of one year: to short for job-seeking? Lack of network for job seeking Lack of information/support about

• residence and work permit

• Scholarship etc.

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5. Conclusion

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Conclusion

View of Economic Theory: - migration decisions (like nearly all human decisions) are a question of benefits and costs; legal framework is just one contributing factor.- migration policy can be interpreted as an attempt to increase the benefits and reduce the costs of migration.

How can we unlock the full potential of migration? Starting points:

• information

• coordination

• networks

• transparency

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Contact

carola.burkert@iab.de

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References

Bitkom (2007): Standpunkte zur Zuwanderunghochqualifizierter Arbeitskräfte. Den Wettbewerb um die besten Köpfe Gewinnen. Berlin: Bitkom (http://www.bitkom.org/files/documents/Standpunkte_dc.pdf, 12.02.2011)

Bundesministerium des Innern (2011): Migrationsbericht des Bundesamtes für Migration und Flüchtlinge im Auftrag der Bundesregierung. Migrationsbericht 2009. Berlin: BMI

Brücker, Herbert; Ringer, Sebastian (2008: Ausländer in Deutschland: Vergleichsweise schlecht qualifiziert. IAB-Kurzbericht 1/2008

Deutscher Industrie- und Handelskammertag (2010): Deutschland für ausländische Fachkräfte und Studenten nur mäßig attraktiv – Ergebnisse einer AHK-Umfrage. Berlin: DIHK

Docquier, F.; Marfouk, A. (2006): International migration by educational attainment (1990-2000) - Release 1.1., In C. Ozden and M. Schiff (eds). International Migration, Remittances and Development, Palgrave Macmillan: New York (http://perso.uclouvain.be/frederic.docquier/filePDF/DM_BookWB.pdf, 12.02.2011)

IW-Dienst (2011): Nach dem Studium geht´s zurück. Nr. 5, 3.2.2011, IW: Koeln

Liebig, Thomas (2010): Labour market integration of immigrants and their children. Key findings from OECD country studies and related OECD work. Presentation at the Institute for Employment Research 17. February 2010, Nuremberg

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Relevance of regional level:• local immigration authority – residence permit• local employment agencies – work permit• national legal framework – room for discretionary application of rules

at local level?