Political Editor, Stefan von Borstel, writes in an editorial piece about Germany's need for immigrants. In his article, he sees the problem of the aging population and overall shrinking of the population as an issue that can be minimized by liberalizing of immigration laws. He notes that 456 top management personnel came from abroad and that currently the law offers an easier application process for a work permit to this group if they earn over 85,000 Euros annually.
I agree with his opinion that the laws are set up to work as barriers to foreigners, rather than as a way to have healthy integration and to improve the overall market.
Germany, like many countries, is very protective of its labor force. It is hard to explain to 3.5 million unemployed citizens why they are trying to bring in workers from abroad. This protectionism is also mirrored in the very strong social leaning politics that do everything to protect jobs at the expense of employers ability to stay solvent.
However, I am optimistic. The loosening of employment protection laws has been very helpful in motivating companies to hire staff. A strong economy motivates hiring and firing, encouraging businesses to grow and take risk. Highly protective labor laws, however, encourage companies to be very cautious about hiring and reduce the overall employment levels. This in turn motivates German companies to go abroad and set up operations in other countries with more favorable laws.
Changing the immigration laws and labor laws together would motivate not only more immigrants, but would also reduce exodus of talent. And, as Mr. von Borstel notes, Germany would profit greatly from having a talent pool made up of people with greater variety. The cultural and educational diversity only helps businesses find solutions for their customers that are more unique, but also can apply to greater geographic markets.
Adidas, one of Germany's greatest success stories, is a classic example of a German company who has moved some of their strategic thinking abroad, in order to find a talent pool that guide their company in a global economy. You will find their global marketing managed out of Boston. Of all of the US cities, I wouldn't have thought of Boston as being global, but it definitely has much more diversity than any city in Germany.
Please read Stefan von Borstel's article:
Deutschland braucht Zuwanderer!
5 comments:
You wrote:
>This protectionism is also
>mirrored in the very strong
>social leaning politics that
>do everything to protect jobs
>at the expense of employers
>ability to stay solvent.
My problem with that, working in a large, well-known electronics company in Bavaria, is that jobs are protected even where they shouldn't be — at least it would seem that way to me. I'm not very old (by my standards) and have only worked for one large company (5 years in the U.S., 4 years here for the same corporation), but I've come across my share of employees who absolutely would not have survived as long in the U.S. as they have here due to gross incompatibility or competence problems (the one incorrigible guy on the team, the guy who claims, 4 years into the job, that he's never been properly trained). I think Germany could have stayed competitive longer in the labor market if they were forced to face unemployment as a natural consequence of not doing a good job or not working well with others.
I'm sure that has an impact on employers' ability to remain solvent.
I have had similar experiences, where I have felt that employees take their employment for granted and don't have as much motivation to excell as in the US. It is a double edged sword, do you want to motivate people to excell or do you want to provide a security net. I feel that people in Germany are overly protected and that they do need a bit more motivation. Fear is a great motivator. Believe it or not, that is what Bill Gates says has motivated him all these years.
>Fear is a great motivator.
I tried to explain this concept to my boss (a long-time employee of my corporate giant employer) and he looked at me like I was advocating terrorism as a public relations tactic. I think there might be a fundamental cultural aspect of post-WWII Germany in effect here.
I think that there is a certain naivete that a lot of businessmen in Germany have. They believe that if they have a technically superior product they will rule the market. If instead one takes that attitude that any day someone could come along with a better product, then you work to stay the best. The same thing can be said for employees. If they don't think they could lose their jobs, then there is less motivation than in the company where someone could lose their job. It doesn't mean that people have to be threatened on a regular basis, but a small dose of fear can go a long ways.
Very good post about "Welt, Germany Needs Immigrants" thx for sharing.
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