Germany’s Scholz bets on immigration, more working women to counter labour shortages

POTSDAM, Germany, Dec 11 (Reuters) – Chancellor Olaf Scholz said this weekend Germany should attract more foreign workers and make it easier for women and older people to work in order to avoid labour shortages and a crisis in its public pension system in the years ahead.

The government is already working hard on attracting foreign workers to “keep the show on the road” in Europe’s biggest economy, Scholz told a citizen forum in Potsdam, near Berlin.

The German government last month agreed plans to reform immigration law, as Berlin seeks to open up Germany’s job market to much-needed workers from outside the European Union.

Scholz said this meant the government might not have to substantially raise pension contributions before the end of its mandate in 2025.

The government also wanted to see a rise in the share of women in the workforce, he said in an interview published by the Funke media group. At the moment, 72.1% of women are engaged in the workforce in Germany, compared to 85.3% in Sweden. 

Scholz said it was important to enable more people to work up until the official retirement age.

“That’s difficult for many people today,” he said.

Germany’s statistics office said last week the population would likely rise by 1 million to 84 million this year due to migration from Ukraine. It could reach 90 million by 2070, if immigration levels are high, it added.

(Reporting by Andreas Rinke; Writing by Sarah Marsh; editing by Clelia Oziel and Ros Rusell)