A new generation of immigrants is coming to Germany: Europe’s crisis refugees. They are young, well-educated and multilingual. Many feel that their prospects at home disappeared when the European financial system began to falter, followed by the collapse of domestic labor markets in a number of countries. They are now going to Germany, just as their grandparents did a half-century ago, in search of a new future.
In the 1960s, guest workers from Southern Europe were the first large immigrant group to move to West Germany to find work. Now their grandchildren are following suit, forming the next major wave of immigrants coming to Germany for jobs. Like their elders, they are in Germany to find jobs and opportunities that their native countries cannot provide.
Elite Immigrants
This time, members of the new wave of immigrants are working in university laboratories rather than on assembly lines. Instead of doing the work that others won’t, they are moving into corner offices, becoming senior physicians and designing products for others to assemble. They have better educations and are more self-confident than previous immigrant generations, and for this reason see themselves as neither guests nor workers. Instead, they feel that they are European citizens and take it for granted that they belong anywhere in Europe, and that they will leave again if they find that they like it better someplace else. They constitute an elite that is now immigrating and changing society’s image of immigrants.
Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor
via Elite Young Immigrants Could Provide Future Stability for German Economy – SPIEGEL ONLINE.
Related Posts
Immigration in Germany / Survey says it eases investment abroad and the effect of age but puts extra burden on the social security system
Seventy percent of those asked said immigration made it easier for international firms to invest in Germany, while 62 percent said that immigration could ease the effects of Germany’s ageing society. And half said immigration as an effective means against the country’s lack of skilled labour. But two-thirds of Germans also saw immigration as an … Continue reading »
Germany / The preferred immigration destination for highly skilled Hungarians
The migration bug at present biting disgruntled skilled workers in every European country has long been a feature in Hungary, with numerous highly skilled younger Hungarians leaving for Germany over the last 16 years. However, the rate at which talented young workers are leaving their home country has accelerated since 2007, with emigrant numbers up … Continue reading »
Germany / Behind in hiring skilled foreign workers
The OECD says German firms continue to recruit too few skilled workers from outside of the country, even when they have difficulties filling vacancies. This is one of the key findings of a new migration report. According to the report unveiled by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) at a press conference in … Continue reading »
Germany – Growing more open to immigrants?
Studies show that increasing numbers of highly skilled immigrants are coming to Germany. They face a number of hurdles, but there are positive signs in the country’s changing attitudes toward them. “So, how’d you learn to speak German so well?” – It’s a question journalist and TV moderator Elif Senel hears all the time, despite … Continue reading »
Job Market Monitor 
Discussion
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
Pingback: Germany / Immigrants struggle in job market – Arab immigrants most affected | Job Market Monitor - September 12, 2013
Pingback: Germany / Poor immigrant influx taking advantage of the nation’s welfare system | Job Market Monitor - October 11, 2013