Germany has a shortage of workers - so it's turning to India for help

## Summary
Germany has a shortage of workers - so it's turning to India for help 12 minutes ago Share Save Tim Mansel Business reporter, Weil am Rhein, southwest Germany Share Save BBC Handirk von Ungern-Sternberg received an email from India out of the blue Germany is continuing to struggle with a shortage of skilled workers, as elderly staff retire, and there are not enough young candidates to fill their roles. The gist of the message was: "We have lots of young, motivated people looking for vocational training and we're wondering if you're interested." Von Ungern-Sternberg was working for the Freiburg Chamber of Skilled Crafts in southwest Germany, a trade body that represents skilled workers, from bricklayers and carpenters, to butchers and bakers, and the companies that employ them. The email arrived at an opportune moment. "We had a lot of desperate employers, who couldn't find anyone to work for them," says Von Ungern-Sternberg. "So we decided to give it a chance." BBC Business Daily: Germany turns to Indian workers Can Germany's economy get back on track? He has instead set up his own employment agency, India Works, in partnership with Aditi Banerjee, of Magic Billion, to help bring more young Indian workers to Germany.

## Article Content
Germany has a shortage of workers - so it's turning to India for help
12 minutes ago
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Tim Mansel
Business reporter, Weil am Rhein, southwest Germany
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Handirk von Ungern-Sternberg received an email from India out of the blue
Germany is continuing to struggle with a shortage of skilled workers, as elderly staff retire, and there are not enough young candidates to fill their roles. To try to alleviate the problem the country is increasingly turning to workers from India.
For Handirk von Ungern-Sternberg, it started with an email that dropped into his inbox in February 2021. It had come from India.
The gist of the message was: "We have lots of young, motivated people looking for vocational training and we're wondering if you're interested."
Von Ungern-Sternberg was working for the Freiburg Chamber of Skilled Crafts in southwest Germany, a trade body that represents skilled workers, from bricklayers and carpenters, to butchers and bakers, and the companies that employ them.
The email arrived at an opportune moment.
"We had a lot of desperate employers, who couldn't find anyone to work for them," says Von Ungern-Sternberg. "So we decided to give it a chance."
BBC Business Daily: Germany turns to Indian workers
Can Germany's economy get back on track?
His first call was to the head of the local butchers' guild. Butchers all over Germany were having a particularly hard time. It was a sector in marked decline.
From 19,000 small, family-run businesses in 2002, there were fewer than 11,000 left by 2021. Employers were finding it almost impossible to recruit young people to take up an apprenticeship.
"The butchery trade is hard work," says the butchers' guild head, Joachim Lederer. "And for the last 25 years or so, young people have been going in other directions."
Back in India, at Magic Billion, the employment agency that had sent that initial email, it managed to recruit 13 young people, who arrived in Germany in the autumn of 2022 to begin their butchery apprenticeships in small towns along the border with Switzerland. They would spend part of their time at college.
Among them was 21-year-old Anakha Miriam Shaji. Like many of her cohort, it was the first time she had ever left India.
She remembers her excitement. "I wanted to see the world," she says. "I wanted to make my living standard so high. I wanted good social security."
Anakha had come to work for Lederer in the town of Weil am Rhein, in the far southwestern tip of Germany, up against both the Swiss and French borders.
Three years later a lot has changed. Von Ungern-Sternberg no longer works at the chamber.
He has instead set up his own employment agency, India Works, in partnership with Aditi Banerjee, of Magic Billion, to help bring more young Indian workers to Germany.
From those original 13 there are now 200 young Indians working in German butchers' shops.
Germany is suffering a crisis of demographics. The economy needs to attract 288,000 foreign workers per year,
according to a 2024 study.
Otherwise the workforce could shrink by 10% by 2040, said the report by the Bertelsmann Foundation think tank.
As the last of the baby boomer generation edge into retirement there are not enough young Germans to replace them, due to a low birth rate. But there are plenty of young people in India.
"India is a country with 600 million people below the age of 25," says Banerjee. "Only 12 million come into the workforce every year. So there's a huge labour surplus."
India Works is preparing to bring 775 young Indians over to Germany this year to begin their apprenticeships. The range of professions they will join is extensive. There are now road builders, mechanics, stonemasons, and bakers, to name four.
It has been easier for skilled Indian workers to be able to work in Germany since the two countries signed the 2022 Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreement. Then at the end of 2024, Germany announced that it would
increase the skilled work visa quota
for Indian citizens from 20,000 per year to 90,000.
Official Germany figures show that in 2024 there were
136,670 Indian workers
in the country, up from 23,320 back in 2015.
Aditi Banerjee says India has the young workers and Germany has the jobs
Young Indians who have found employment in Germany via India Works offer similar explanations for their decision to try their luck in a new country - the difficulties of finding a job in India, the higher salaries available in Europe, and the ambition to make their own way in life.
There's Ishu Gariya, for example, a 20-year-old who after finishing Indian high school was contemplating a university degree and a job in computers. "But I didn't want to waste my money on this degree and then find work in a company for a low wage," he says.
So he swapped a Delhi suburb for a village in Germany's Black Forest region, where he's a baker's apprentice. His shift didn't finish until three in the morning and he's ensconced in a hooded down jacket to keep out the w

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## Expert Analysis

### Merits
N/A

### Areas for Consideration
- To try to alleviate the problem the country is increasingly turning to workers from India.
- He has a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. "It was very difficult for me to get a job in India," he says. "So I thought that Ausbildung would be a better role for me." Ausbildung is the German word for training or apprenticeship.

### Implications
- Otherwise the workforce could shrink by 10% by 2040, said the report by the Bertelsmann Foundation think tank.
- The range of professions they will join is extensive.
- It's the only possibility." Read more global business stories How Finnish supermarkets are central to the country's defence Ukraine's urgent fight on the financial frontline Spain's migrants welcome amnesty: 'It will help us in every way' Are you cut out for living and working in Antarctica?

### Expert Commentary
This article covers germany, india, young topics. Areas of concern are also raised. Readability: Flesch-Kincaid grade 0.0. Word count: 1192.