International Organization for Migration (IOM)

Recent legal changes and amendments to existing laws (such as the Labour Migration
Control Act which came into force on 1 January 2009) are steps in the right direction.
However, Germany’s immigration policy lacks important elements such as, for
example, a component of qualitative control and selection. It furthermore suffers
from bureaucracy and a lack of transparency. Besides (and because of) its complexity,
it is not internationally recognized or understood, and it thus fails to reach potential
immigrants in their home countries. Hinte et al. (2011) therefore highlight that policy
makers and other stakeholders should be aware of at least two important aspects in
the context of the German immigration debate. First, immigration policy needs to
be tailored to the needs of prospective migrants, and additionally it requires some
marketing effort to attract qualified workers in the context of global competition.
Second, Germany still suffers from its past failures. For various reasons, Germany
is not among today’s most popular immigration countries. This, in turn, then makes
the country even less attractive for future immigrants. Irrespective of any policy
changes, it is therefore not possible to attract a large number of qualified immigrants
in the short term.
In spite of these deficiencies in the institutional framework, a survey conducted in
2008 revealed that more than half of the German companies already have experience
in recruiting from abroad (see Figure 6.2). Recruiting foreign workers is more
common in large companies with more than 1,000 employees, while it is less often
used in SMEs. This might be related to the sectoral distribution of international
recruitment since it is more common in industrial firms than in firms operating
in the service sector. Furthermore, firms use international recruitment channels
comparatively more often to hire highly skilled specialists in areas such as IT, R&D
and sales (IBE, 2008).
Figure 6.2: Companies’ experiences with international recruitment, 2008
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
55.0%
Total
42.7%
SMEs
61.8%
Large companies
63.2%
Industrial firms
48.9%
Service sector
Source: IBE (2008).
Note: Fraction of companies who report experiences in international recruitment in a survey of 309
decision makers conducted in 2008.
71.8%
High-skilled specialists
45.9%
Management
23.5%
Freelancer
51.8%
Qualified workers
1.8%
Unskilled workers
country studIes – GERMANY
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