The job market is at a tipping point. Soon there could be more vacancies than unemployed. Almost two million workers are already missing. The strange thing is that everyone actually knows what needs to be done now.
The country needs fewer students, but more apprenticeships with higher salaries. Upper limits for overcrowded subjects must not be taboo. In general, jobs in the low-wage sector must become more attractive. The compatibility of work and family must finally be improved, in order to increase the employment rate among women in particular.
In addition, there needs to be a more targeted recruitment of skilled workers and the simplification and digitization of the recognition of qualifications. The work ban for asylum seekers is counterproductive and should be relaxed. Finally, this country should not continue to make it unnecessarily difficult for people who want to work past retirement age. Your potential is urgently needed.
Some of this is – at least in part – in the traffic light plans. So far, however, almost nothing has been implemented. Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil and Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (both SPD) must deliver soon, otherwise they will inherit the image as “Minister of Announcement” that Jens Spahn once had.
She and her traffic light colleagues can add a few points at the same time: tax cuts, for example, that would make the country more attractive to talented people from abroad. In addition, the return of corona restrictions in gastronomy and culture must urgently be prevented.
However, instead of the government leading the way here, Minister Heil is concentrating on pushing through the largest labor market reform in twenty years with the citizen benefit. The idea: With less pressure and more incentives, a “more sustainable” labor market integration should succeed. However, the opposite could just as easily happen, and the unemployed settle into the status quo.
Heil is sometimes traded as a future chancellor candidate. If it fails due to the problem of a shortage of skilled workers – and the large-scale project of citizen income – such a scenario should in any case have been dealt with quickly.
The new training year has started and many positions remain vacant. Many employers are dissatisfied with their applicants and there are not enough interested parties. In order to attract trainees, creativity is therefore required from employers.
Source: WELT/ Jonas Feldt
