What skills do international professionals bring to Germany?

Abstract

"In recent years, Germany has become an important destination for international skilled workers. Traditional data sources such as official statistics or household surveys, however, provide little information on the specific competencies that highly qualified migrants bring with them —or that are lost through emigration. Using LinkedIn data, we make these flows of skills visible and show that Germany is a clear net importer of competencies, particularly in IT, cognitive skills, and project and people management. Both labour and education migration contribute to this inflow, with the latter being more strongly affected by the pandemic. Germany’s future competitiveness will crucially depend on an active migration and skills policy as well as on attractive opportunities for education and long-term retention." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Garbers, J., Gathmann, C. & Stips, F. (2025): Welche Kompetenzen bringen internationale Fachkräfte nach Deutschland? Teil des Zeitgesprächs: Zehn Jahre „Wir schaffen das“: Bilanz und Ausblick deutscher Migrationspolitik. In: Wirtschaftsdienst, Vol. 105, No. 9, p. 643-649. DOI:10.2478/wd-2025-0165