MNI BRIEF: Immigration Needed To Plug German Labour Shortages

Germany will need an extra 400,000 thousand immigrants each year if it is to fill the skills gap left behind by an aging population, Federal Employment Agency chairman Detlef Scheele told Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) newspaper Tuesday (and reported by Deutsche Welle).

The country is expected to lose around 150,000 skilled workers to retirement this year alone, Scheele said, with even more dramatic labour shortages anticipated in the coming years. "From nursing care and climate technicians to logisticians and academics, there will be a shortage of skilled workers everywhere," Scheele, a member of the centre-left SPD, said. "This is not about asylum but targeted immigration to fill gaps in the labour market," he said.