Signposting routes to Germany for skilled workers

According to Svenja Schulze, Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, a “modern and holistic understanding” of migration underpins Germany’s plans to set up new centres for migration and development in partner countries. The centres are designed to support official and legal migration to Germany for employment and education purposes. 

How will the new centres for migration and development be created? 

The Federal Government currently plans to build the centres in nine countries: Egypt, Ghana, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan and Tunisia. The centres are not starting from scratch. Some are linked to national ministries of employment or migration, while others will build on the work of precursor institutions. The Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development started funding centres in selected countries in 2017 to deal with questions of migration and finding work, and these are now being repurposed. As part of this, the Ghanaian-German migration advice centre in Accra, which was set up in 2017, is being expanded to become the Ghanaian-European Centre for Jobs, Migration and Development, with additional funding coming from the European Union. Until now the centre has focused on reintegrating migrants returning to Ghana and helping them to find a livelihood. In future the focus will be more on migration to Germany and the development policy benefits of the centres. The countries where the centres are located are also to benefit along with the destination countries for migrants.  

How will Germany’s partner countries benefit from the new centres? 

While there is increasing demand for international skilled workers in Germany, many developing countries are faced with high rates of youth unemployment. As such, they have an interest in work migration which gives their citizens access to knowledge and international education and training. Work migration is considered a way of easing the pressure on national labour markets. When migrants return to their home countries this creates opportunities for development, as does knowledge transfer through improving upskilling workers in Germany. Federal Minister Schulze illustrates this significance with reference to Accra. With its help, she says, “Germany not only attracts and trains skilled workers, but also accelerates economic development and job creation in Ghana.” 

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