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Berlin (dts news agency) – Labor market integration in Germany has deteriorated over the decades. This is shown by a study by the Mannheim Leibniz Center for European Economic Research (ZEW) reported by the “Welt am Sonntag”.
While EU citizens often find work in this country and sometimes earn better than locals, migrants from non-European countries with a high proportion of refugees find it particularly difficult on the German labor market. Even if the children of immigrants have gone through the German education system, they are still disadvantaged. The scientists compared the integration processes of numerous migrant groups, from the so-called guest workers, to people who came from Eastern Europe after the fall of the Iron Curtain, to refugees and EU citizens from old and new member states. “The experiences of the guest worker cohorts show that immigrants are still particularly hard hit by economic upheaval and unemployment even after many years in the host country,” said Paul Berbée, ZEW economist and co-author of the study. Despite the “essential contribution” made by migrants “to economic prosperity,” it took many decades for politicians and the public to recognize that Germany is a country of immigration. In concrete terms, for example, immigrants from the EU-15 countries – i.e. without the most recent eastern enlargements – are employed on average just as often as natives of a comparable age. Migrants from other countries, on the other hand, are on average almost 40 percentage points less likely to be employed upon arrival, but catch up significantly within the first ten years. Refugees in particular start with low employment rates, which rise comparatively slowly. Only after 20 years do they reach those of migrants from non-EU countries. The long-term comparison also shows that over the past 50 years, the labor market opportunities for immigrants have worsened compared to natives. The corresponding employment rates fell by around eleven percentage points. “A forward-looking integration and immigration policy is more important than ever,” said Berbée. On the one hand, the education system must offer the children of immigrants equal opportunities so that disadvantages on the job market do not perpetuate generations. On the other hand, access to the labor market for people with foreign educational qualifications must be made much easier. “The new Skilled Immigration Act is an important step in this direction,” said the economist.