Germany's 'Brain Drain'
October 23, 2006
It is mostly young people who see a brighter future in other countries, including "many who are qualified, highly motivated and bright," the president of the German Chamber of Commerce, Ludwig Georg Braun, told Die Welt newspaper on Monday.
"It is an alarm signal," he added.
The country's Federal Statistical Office said there were 145,000 people who moved abroad in 2005 -- about the number of people who live in a small city like Potsdam near Berlin. It is the highest number since they began compiling that statistic, in 1954, an FSO spokesperson said.
Braun: structural problems to blame
The most alarming aspect of the news is that more than half of the emigrants are younger than 35.
The main reason for the "brain drain" are the favorable conditions for wage earners in other countries, Braun told Die Welt. Compared with other European countries, Germany has high taxes and social security payments, a tight job market, and deficient education and training.
"Germany must absolutely deal with its structural problems. It must become an attractive location for qualified and trained workers," he said. In addition, he added, the German job market needs to open up for well-trained foreign workers.
Beck calls for calm
Kurt Beck, head of the Social Democrat party (SPD), said the warning by the Chamber of Commerce was "rather excessive," and called for calm in the debate.
"When German firms expand across the globe, they also send their workers overseas," he told the press. "In a free society, it is normal to move overseas." In the end, what is important is that approximately equal numbers of people leave the country and come into the country, he said.
For his part, SPD education and training expert Jörg Tauss said businesses are to blame for the high numbers of Germans who leave and never come back.
"An economy that can't offer jobs to qualified people -- which simply offers them unpaid internships month after month, and has no concept of how to lure people back to open positions in Germany -- has no right to complain over the consequences of its own policies," he told AFP.