Foreign Care Workers Boom in Germany: A Solution to the Crippling Skills Shortage
Approximately 25% of nursing care workers are internationally recruited. - Over a quarter of nurses originate from foreign countries.
Germany's care sector is grappling with a severe skills shortage, a predicament that's worsening due to demographic changes. Increasingly, our aging population requires more care workers, and domestic supply isn't meeting the demand. Thankfully, foreign workers are stepping in to fill the void. According to the Federal Employment Agency, roughly 24% of care workers in nursing homes are foreign nationals.
In the past decade, careers in care have grown by a whopping 20%, reaching an impressive 1.72 million caregivers. And guess who's responsible for the majority of this growth? That's right – foreign employees! For the last three years, care employment growth has been solely driven by foreign workers, with 2024 seeing a decline in new EU workers but a surge in those from outside the EU, totaling 13,000 fresh faces.
Part-time work is the norm in the care sector. Last year, around 50% of care workers were part-time, compared to roughly a third of all workers in Germany. This trend isn't exclusive to female care workers – over a third of male caregivers opt for part-time positions, too.
Now, let's shift gears for a moment. To better address these skills shortages and promote talent retention, Germany's immigration policies are evolving. The Skilled Immigration Act, for instance, aims to simplify entry processes and support family reunification, paving the way for foreign care workers to put down roots. Furthermore, the Opportunity Card, while primarily designed for IT, engineering, and healthcare, conceivably opens doors for care workers who don't have a job offer yet.
The demand for caregivers is monumental, and it's just one piece of the broader need for skilled workers in Germany. Keep an eye out for more developments as our country adapts to this challenging and fascinating phase.
- Care worker
- Skills shortage
- Federal Employment Agency
- Care sector
- Part-time work
- Opportunity Card
- Skilled Immigration Act
- Immigration policies
- Demographic changes
[1] German Government Skilled Immigration Act[2] German Government Opportunity Card[3] Federal Employment Agency Care Worker Report[4] German Economic Policy for Immigration
- The Federal Employment Agency reported that around 24% of care workers in nursing homes are foreign nationals, indicating a significant contribution of foreign workers to the care sector.
- The care sector has seen an impressive growth of 20% over the past decade, with the majority of this growth attributed to foreign employees, as stated by the German Economic Policy for Immigration.
- Part-time work is common in the care sector, as over 50% of care workers, including a third of male caregivers, work part-time, according to the Federal Employment Agency Care Worker Report.
- To address the skills shortage and promote talent retention, the German government has implemented initiatives such as the Skilled Immigration Act and the Opportunity Card, which aims to support foreign care workers and facilitate their integration into the community.
