How Ukrainian refugees affected the labor market in Germany

Ukrainian refugees in Germany. What are they?

For almost ten months of full-scale Russian aggression against Ukraine, about a million Ukrainians left for Germany for protection. Sociologists and specialists from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) have studied the age and professional backgrounds of the migrants. 80% of the fugitives from Ukraine are women, almost half of whom (48%) have young children. And 20% of refugees from Ukraine are males, of which 16% are unmarried men and without children.

The average age of Ukrainian migrants who left for Germany is 28 years. This is a fairly young stratum of people living in Germany. The level of education, in most cases, is above average. 72% of refugees in Germany have higher education diplomas. In order to start working in the specialty, or to use your own diploma, you need to increase professional competence.

According to sociologists, about 18% of Ukrainian refugees (among men 24%) have already found a job in Germany in the first six months of their stay, and this statistic is steadily growing every month. According to German experts, there is no strong rivalry with local personnel in the labor market. According to their observations, Ukrainian refugees are helping to alleviate the growing shortage of blue-collar jobs in Germany.

At the same time, language barriers remain relevant today. About half of all migrants take language courses responsibly, and a third also attend integration courses. 91% of Ukrainian families in Germany sent their school-age children to German schools, almost a quarter of the children of Ukrainian families study online in Ukrainian schools in parallel.

Ukrainian refugees in the German labor market

Unemployed in the German labor market has become more due to the fact that the refugees entered the statistics. Moreover, Job Centers will significantly increase payments from January 1, 2023.

The Federal Employment Agency reported that more than 2.6 million people were looking for work in Germany in December 2022. This is a pretty significant number. The percentage of unemployed among the able-bodied population increased by more than 5%. Because of the Ukrainians who entered the country after February 24, having the same rights to work in Germany, today we have such a statistical situation.

Many Ukrainians have found jobs in gastronomy, logistics warehouses, processing and food industries, and are also employed in the automotive industry. German employers are interested in long-term employees. Ukrainians in Germany earn an average of 1,467 euros per month. About a quarter of the migrants receive more than 2,000 euros. Almost half declare earnings in the range of 1000-1999 euros per month.

Those who know German or English can find a highly qualified job and receive a decent salary. Sociologists note that the majority of Ukrainians have found work in the German service and trade sectors. In addition, employers began to offer housing for their employees, which provides more opportunities for the development of enterprises, at the expense of Ukrainian migrants.

How Germany is reformatting its labor market

Germany is reformatting its labor market for Ukrainians. Before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, German employers employed mainly those foreigners who spoke either German or English well and were highly skilled workers, but now in Germany there are more offers of simple physical work, where it is not necessary to know German or have work experience. These changes are in response to the large number of Ukrainians who have come for protection.

Ukrainian refugees were given the right to move freely around the EU to find work, and their children are immediately accepted into educational institutions. Such an approach, in the long term, helps to integrate immigrants into German society, which is useful for the economy. Thus, spending on refugees is an investment asset. Many experts argue that the emergence of refugees is a plus for some sectors of the economy: the sphere of personal assistance, the hospitality industry and the food industry.

Is there a risk of increased competition for jobs and even lower wages?

This question cannot be answered unequivocally, because there are many factors that affect the situation: how many people will look for work, and whether they get a job, because the military situation in Ukraine is difficult to predict. It is quite possible that the impact of the influx of refugees in this regard will have more pluses than minuses. After all, German employment centers are re-profiling and minimizing competition, as they consider areas where there is a clear shortage of workers. In other words, they give an opportunity to develop small companies and enterprises.

Usually immigrants do not apply for exactly the same jobs as local residents. From this we can conclude that the competition with the locals is not what we can imagine. At the same time, refugees are stimulating local influence, allowing companies to recruit and expand. They spend money and develop the country's economy.

Measures taken by Germany to employ Ukrainians:

In Germany today there are not enough people with vocational education and people who would be involved in the field of care.

In addition, the large Siemens concern is planning large-scale programs to integrate refugees into the production process, the main areas are school and professional internships, or school classes with a professional approach to learning the language. The Central Association of German Craftsmen (ZDH) announced a long-term plan for humanitarian aid, and not a recruitment of qualified personnel. In order to successfully integrate Ukrainians in the labor market, first of all, professional qualifications and the actual interest of the refugees themselves in employment are needed. Many Ukrainians have either a medical-technical qualification or a teaching qualification, which opens doors for them to medical and educational institutions, as well as health care and education.

The German trade union of workers in the construction, agricultural and environmental sectors (IG Bau) warned back in April against the exploitation of Ukrainians as cheap labor. German companies have a clear shortage of personnel, because the German market is in dire need of specialists in various industries.

IT company SAP announced the launch of a program with its own website, which aims to offer refugees from Ukraine to fill vacancies in SAP branches around the world.

German employers lack professional staff. Therefore, the German government will make the rules for immigration and stay in Germany more attractive.

German Interior Minister Nancy Feser noted on the portal of the federal government that Germany wants a new start in migration policy. Also, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that people who in such a difficult time gave a new breath to our economy should be rewarded. He, like Minister Nancy Feather, are in favor of simplifying the law that governs the acquisition of German citizenship.

The German government decided to facilitate the employment of qualified personnel from abroad. A bill designed to increase the attractiveness of working in Germany for specialists from non-EU countries should be prepared in 2023; for this, a wide range of measures has been developed to improve the skills of Ukrainians.

Taxes paid by Ukrainians in the host country

At the beginning of the war, there was a trend that in spring and summer, Ukrainians abroad mainly spent their savings and funds that were transferred to them from Ukraine. But since autumn, they have begun to participate more actively in the labor market in the EU and spend their own labor income.

The results of the study once again prove that Ukrainians are not used to sitting idly by and are actively integrating into the labor market. In particular, they resort to entrepreneurship in the countries of their forced stay. For Europe, such migrants are rather a find and an achievement, for us it is a colossal loss.

Thus, Ukrainian immigrants are not only a burden for the German economy, but also an incentive for its reform and change, one of the levers to overcome the economic crisis and inflation. Along with the growth of unemployment in the country, there is a wide integration of refugees into society with significant prospects.