From guests to permanent stayers?

Abstract

"From the 1960s onwards German industry experienced a greater need for labour Recruitment agreement for "guestworkers" were concluded with a number of Mediterranean countries. At that time the prevailing opinion was that temporary immigration would be in the interests of all parties involved. This ideal turned out to be an illusion. There were also costs involved with the particular advantages. Above all, however, the longer the length of the stay, the more improbable a return to the homeland became (illusion of return). The rotation principle that was originally intended was also never strictly enforced. It was also not in the interest of the employers to send back a trained foreign worker after one or two years. After the oil price shock of 1973 a recruitment ban for workers from non-EU countries was adopted in principle. This was followed by a period of restrictive regulations which, however, for a number of reasons did not prevent a further increase in the foreign population, numbering 7.3 million in the meantime. New immigrant groups appreared such as asylum seekers, refugees, immigrants of German origin from Central and East European Countries (CEEC) and the former Soviet Union. So-called project workers from CEECs constitute a separate episode. A new immigration situation has arisen only recently with the improving labour market situation and shortages of skilled labour occurring occasionally. Since August 2000 there has been an inflow quota for 10 000 (if necessary, 20 000) foreign IT specialists, who may work in Germany for 5 years (for the time being). An immigration debate began in connection with this which raises questions that every immigration policy has to answer: who? how many? from where? for how long? Finally on the basis of the experiences gained from the previous immigration programmes, this paper attempts to provide conclusions for a more comprehensive concept for immigration which is orientated more towards the labour market." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Werner, H. (2001): From guests to permanent stayers? From the german "Guestworker" programmes of the sixties to the current "Green Card" initiative for IT specialists. In: IAB Labour Market Research Topics No. 43, p. 1-26. Anhang.