Germany needs to attract skilled foreign workers in order to address the lack of a skilled workforce, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said earlier this week.
The consultancy firm McKinsey has estimated that Germany will be short of two million skilled workers by 2020, despite its population, which today amounts to over 82 million inhabitants.
“We have become the country of emigration in recent years. Too many talented individuals have left Germany. Me must make our country as valuable as possible in order to keep our talents” the Minister said. The Minister is also a headmaster.
"Of course it is right that we invite foreigners to work in our country. This is positive for us and for our development," said Westerwelle.
Germany introduced a "green card" for skilled foreign workers in the year of 2000, which made it possible for 33.000 people to come to Germany over the past 10 years, according to recent figures.
Despite these "green cards", there is now a proposal to introduce a new so-called "point system", which hopefully makes it more interesting for foreign skilled workers to work in Germany.
Tony Harkén