‘It’s time to go to work’: in Germany, they have decided to change their approach to the employment of Ukrainian refugees

Germany is changing its course – it’s time for Ukrainian refugees to start working.

This is reported by Deutsche Welle.

“The language barrier is decreasing. It’s time to start working.”

This statement was made by the German Minister of Labor, Hubertus Heil, addressing Ukrainian refugees, or more specifically, refugee women. This is because women make up 80% of the working-age Ukrainian citizens who have sought refuge in Germany since last year to escape the war.

The minister made this announcement on October 18 at a press conference in Berlin, essentially heralding a change in the German government’s approach to refugee employment. The focus was on refugees who have a real prospect of staying in the country for an extended period, with an emphasis on Ukrainian women.

Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, effectively confirmed this change in course on October 19. Speaking in the Bundestag with a government statement ahead of the EU summit, he addressed the topic of migration and declared, “We are taking extensive measures to get Ukrainian citizens in Germany into the German labor market.”

Ukrainian refugees in Germany have had a special status since the beginning of the summer of 2022. They receive higher benefits (Bürgergeld) and have more extensive job opportunities compared to asylum seekers from other countries. As of June 2023, there were approximately 480,000 Ukrainian recipients of such benefits in working age.

“The federal government has left them alone for a long time, but now those who fled the war in Ukraine need to become more self-reliant,” noted the online portal of Die Zeit.

The shift in Berlin is due, on the one hand, to the sharp escalation of the migration crisis throughout the EU this year, which has led to increased popularity and electoral success of the “Alternative for Germany” party in Germany. On the other hand, the German government urgently needs to address the rapidly growing labor market shortage, which is increasingly hampering the country’s economic development. These job vacancies don’t necessarily require specialized skills, including language proficiency.

This was precisely the point Hubertus Heil emphasized during the press conference. “We understand that language skills are important, but they don’t have to be perfect,” the labor minister stressed.

He noted that more than 100,000 Ukrainian refugees have completed language courses recently, and approximately 100,000 more will finish their training in the coming months. A similar situation applies to another 200,000 refugees from other countries. “So, we are talking about a potential workforce of around 400,000 people for our labor market,” the minister pointed out, and assured that they want these people to transition from integration courses to jobs more quickly.

At the same time, the requirements for Ukrainian refugees themselves will become more stringent. While German unemployed individuals are required to regularly report their job-seeking efforts to the local job center, this was not required of Ukrainians until now. Hubertus Heil announced that this would change.

Ukrainian recipients of Bürgergeld will be required to report their job-seeking efforts at least once every six weeks, and the job agency will actively offer them specific job opportunities. “Those who refuse to cooperate or turn down job offers may see their payments reduced,” emphasized Hubertus Heil.