MIGRATION-GERMANY: Berlin Govt. Keen to Import Computer Experts, Public Critical

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Ramesh Jaura

BONN, Apr 23 2000 (IPS) - Germany’s red-green coalition government is trying hard to encourage computer experts from India, South America and Eastern Europe to help the German industry keep pace with the fast developing information technology.

But the government plans are considered “controversial” by a majority of Germans, according to a new opinion poll. At the same time, IT specialists appear to be reluctant to respond to the invitation.

For the first time since the labour import was stopped in 1973, the German government is reviewing the country’s labour laws to introduce a work permit system similar to the US green card system for some 20,000 IT specialists from countries outside of the European Union.

Nationals of the 15 European Union (EU) states have the right to free movement within member nations. Non-EU citizens are allowed to be employed only if the position cannot be filled by a German. But even in such cases, several months elapse before a work permit is given.

The government is now co-operating with the industry on evolving a ‘fast track’ method to speed up the process.

The Labour Ministry said last week it was working on a programme aimed at issuing green cards for a period of five years, without the skilled persons and their employers having to undergo any bureaucratic hurdles.

The move was initiated by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder at the CeBIT information technology fair in Hanover last February. The city in northern Germany will host the five-month long World Exposition from June onwards, highlighting themes related to humankind, technology and the environment.

Backed by the industry, the government has been considering also a review of the country’s rigid immigration laws. Unlike in the United States, the present legislation in fact does not allow for immigration of skilled workers and experts.

A change in the existing laws is, however, not supported by everyone. Sections of the opposition Christian Democratic Union are heading a political lobby that rejects liberalisation of immigration laws.

Former Technology Minister Juergen Ruettgers, who is contesting for the job of the prime minister of Germany’s largest federal state North-Rhine Westfalia mid-May, has come up with a controversial slogan: “Kinder statt Inder”, meaning that the government should invest in educating children in information technology instead of importing computer experts from India.

The government is countering this campaign by pointing out that the information technology sector is a key industry in the 21st century. Every year around 600,000 jobs are created in the IT sector worldwide. “There is a need to make use of this dynamic potential for Germany and to translate it into economic growth and more jobs,” argues the Labour Ministry.

The Ministry points out that the shortage of computer experts is not a phenomenon confined to Germany. “The rapid rate of growth in all the major industrial nations has led to a considerable shortage of IT specialists. In the view of economic experts there are currently about 75,000 jobs available in this sector in Germany which cannot be filled for lack of qualified personnel,” adds the Ministry in a fact sheet posted on its website.

Last July the government-initiated and industry-supported Alliance for Jobs, Training, and Competitiveness decided to launch an offensive to reduce the shortage of qualified personnel in the IT sector in co-operation with vocational training, higher education, and supplementary training institutions.

The target was set to produce 250,000 computer specialists by the year 2005. “Numerous training measures have been initiated, but they will show the desired effect only gradually and over the medium-term,” says the Labour Ministry.

While the debate over the import of IT experts continues, the prestigious Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily newspaper carried a report last Monday quoting the Foreign Office in Berlin saying that the German embassies had not received any “mass inquiries”. The German Embassy in New Delhi had received only 100 written applications.

The German Employment Agency (ZAV) in Bonn said 46 e-mails had arrived from India at its address. This represents hardly seven percent of a total of 700 applications ZAV has received since the end of March.

The employment agency explained that due to cultural and linguistic factors Britain and the United States were more attractive for India’s highly qualified IT experts.

The newspaper said, meanwhile Indian enterprises were also complaining of a drastic shortfall of IT specialists. The newspaper quoted Dewang Mehta, chairman of the Indian Association of Software and Service Companies, saying the Indian job market presently required 67,000 specialists.

Since the Indian government planned to increase the share of IT in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from two to 14 percent by 2008, the shortfall could worsen. Mehta estimated that by 2008 India would need 2.2 million computer specialists.

Nevertheless, the issue of a green card for IT experts remains controversial in Germany. This emerges from a public opinion survey carried out on behalf of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The newspaper published the results last Thursday.

It said: “The general public in Germany, especially those taking an interest in politics, now considers the government’s plans to issue visas to 20,000 computer specialists … one of the most controversial issues in Germany.”

This is because “at the same time, Germany is absorbing a largely uncontrolled influx of 260,000 foreigners a year without any discernible discussion of regulating it,” added the newspaper.