Germany is stepping up efforts to strengthen migrant employment as new research and policy updates highlight both progress and ongoing challenges. The German Bundestag recently published an evaluation of the Skilled Immigration Act, introduced in 2023 to attract qualified professionals from outside the EU and improve their integration into the labour market.
The Skilled Immigration Act introduced measures such as the “opportunity card,” allowing non-EU citizens to enter Germany to search for work, and the “experience pillar,” targeting applicants with strong work experience but non-recognised degrees. Between June 2024 and November 2025, German missions issued 17,489 opportunity cards and 838 visas under the experience pillar. The reforms also aim to speed up qualification recognition and improve access to employment.
To address growing labour shortages, Labour Minister Bärbel Bas announced plans to create a new “Work-and-Stay Agency.” The digital platform will centralise visa and residence permit procedures for skilled migrant workers. Germany currently has around 300,000 third-country nationals holding employment permits, but experts estimate that hundreds of thousands of additional skilled workers will be needed each year as many Germans approach retirement.
Refugee employment has also shown clear improvement. A study by the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) found that 64 percent of refugees who arrived in 2015 were employed by 2024, close to Germany’s national employment rate of 70 percent. Data from the Federal Employment Agency show nearly 800,000 refugees were employed by October 2025, with most in regular jobs subject to social insurance. However, many still work in low- or semi-skilled roles.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in its International Migration Outlook 2025, reported that migrants in Germany earn on average 34 percent less than native-born workers with similar qualifications. Although wages improve over time, barriers to upward mobility remain. The report calls on employers to improve skills recognition, training, and career advancement opportunities.
A study by Kompetenzzentrum Fachkräftesicherung (KOFA) highlights the untapped potential of migrant women. In 2024, around 520,000 migrant women were unemployed, many younger and overqualified for available jobs. The study estimates that about 530,000 migrant women could fill shortages in healthcare, elder care, and early childhood education if supported with faster recognition processes, flexible work arrangements, and childcare services.
Research from the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) shows that migrants and refugees remain at a higher risk of poverty. While Germany’s overall poverty risk stands at about 17 percent, it exceeds 24 percent for people with a migration background and reaches 63.7 percent for refugees. The report links poverty to slow labour market integration, low wages, and delays in recognising foreign qualifications.
Another recent study found that German media overrepresents non-German suspects in crime reporting. Despite only a small percentage of migrants appearing as suspects, coverage often focuses heavily on nationality. Experts warn that this imbalance may affect public perception and social cohesion, especially as new regional rules require police to disclose suspect nationality.
A further report from DIW Berlin examined refugee integration ten years after increased arrivals between 2013 and 2019. While naturalisation rates rose from 2.1 percent in 2021 to 7.5 percent in 2023, many refugees report ongoing discrimination, particularly in housing. The study also found that refugee children born in Germany show comparable health at birth but later differences in language and social development linked to socioeconomic factors.
The Deutsches Zentrum für Integrations- und Migrationsforschung (DeZIM) reported that 21 percent of people in Germany considered emigrating between 2024 and 2025. Emigration intentions were higher among first-generation immigrants and their descendants, often due to perceived discrimination and hopes for better quality of life abroad.
In a separate development, the German government signed a new agreement with India to recruit nurses under a fair recruitment model. The programme will provide German language training up to B2 level and align nursing curricula with German standards. Based on the Global Skills Partnerships model, the initiative aims to ease labour shortages in healthcare while ensuring ethical recruitment and sustainable integration.
Overall, Germany’s recent policies and research show steady progress in migrant employment, but also underline the need for stronger integration support, fair recruitment systems, and equal access to career advancement opportunities.