An Evaluation of the Motives for Migration to Germany of Persons who Have Moved to Germany: Over One Million Working-Oriented Immigrants in 10 Years

An own analysis shows that in 2017, around 1.06 million of the 3.56 million people between 15 and 64 years of age who have come to the country since 2007 should be classified as labour-marketoriented immigrants. That corresponds to a share of 29.8 per cent. Immigration for family reasons accounts for 974,000 persons or 27.4 per cent and education-oriented immigration for 361,000 or 10.1 per cent. A differentiation according to the countries of origin shows that the vast majority of employment-oriented immigrants come from the area entitled to freedom of movement. The EU and other Western European countries together account for 72.8 percent, with 51.1 percent come from the five countries Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Croatia alone. This could lead to substantial gaps at the German labour market, should immigration from these countries decline,. For this reason, politicians should work towards making Germany more attractive for employment-oriented immigrants from third countries when implementing the new Immigration of Skilled Workers Act. The regional dimension of employment-oriented immigration must also be kept in mind, as up to now it has been mainly the economically strong federal states in the south that have benefited. In 2017, more than half of all employment-oriented immigrants (52.5 percent) lived in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Hesse, whereas this was only the case for 42.9 percent of all persons between 15 and 64 years of age who have immigrated since 2007.