Immigrants and their children take on important work in Germany. They are particularly well represented in cleaning jobs and in the catering industry. However, they are underrepresented in other professional fields.
In many professional fields, the German labor market has only functioned for years thanks to people with foreign roots. The Federal Statistical Office announced based on figures for 2022 that there are above-average numbers of employees with an immigration background, particularly in cleaning professions (around 60 percent) and in the catering industry (46 percent).
Overall, according to statistics, 25 percent of all employed people aged 15 to 64 had an immigration history, as it was said. This means that their share of the workforce was slightly below their population share of 28 percent. The proportion in transport and logistics occupations (38 percent) and in construction (36 percent) is therefore also above average.
In geriatric care, almost a third (30 percent) of those employed had an immigration background. For doctors it was 27 percent, and for personal care professions, which include hairdressers and beauticians, it was 36 percent.
In government jobs underrepresented
On the other hand, it is comparatively rare for employees with an immigration background to be found in the police or justice system. In 2022, only one in 16 workers had an immigration history (6 percent). The proportion of teachers at general schools was also very low at 11 percent. In banking and insurance professions, the proportion of employees with foreign roots was 16 percent.
According to the Wiesbaden authorities, a person with an immigration history is someone who has immigrated to Germany since 1950 or whose both parents have immigrated since 1950.
Germany is undergoing demographic change. This means that the number of younger people is decreasing and the number of older people is increasing. The country is therefore dependent on immigration of skilled workers from abroad in many professional fields. The federal government also sees a lack of skilled workers as a key risk for Germany as a business location – and wants to take countermeasures, for example with regulations that are intended to attract more non-EU citizens to the labor market.
With the possibility of residence for foreigners based on practical professional experience, a core element of the law on skilled worker immigration is now coming into force.