Around a fourth of the nursing workforce originates from foreign countries.
Hey there! Guess what? Nearly one-fourth of caregivers in a typical German nursing home are immigrants. That's right! The German Federal Employment Agency reports that the care sector is in a pickle, severely short of qualified workers, and this predicament is only worsened by demographic trends. Vanessa Ahuja, a spokeswoman based in Nuremberg, put it quite bluntly: "Without foreign care workers, the sector would be toast already."
The number of employees in the care sector has swelled by around 20% over the past decade, reaching 1.72 million. That's a lot more than the average increase in the labor market as a whole. For the last three years running, the surge in jobs in this sector can be attributed solely to foreign workers. Today, 18% of caregivers are immigrants.
Data courtesy of ntv.de and dpa.
Now, here's where things get interesting. Considering Germany's labor shortage, the government has been tweaking its immigration policies. In 2025, they introduced new rules aimed at luring skilled workers to the country, including the Opportunity Card. This card allows skilled individuals to move to Germany without a job already lined up—a plus for foreign care workers. The government has also implemented a speedier approval process for high-demand fields like healthcare.
But here's the catch: although these reforms could potentially help elderly care workers, they're not specifically tailored to this sector. On the other hand, the Skilled Immigration Act, effective from March 1, 2024, made it easier for skilled workers' families to join them in Germany. However, this act doesn't necessarily cater to the unique needs of elderly care workers. Lastly, the latest German coalition government has announced stricter immigration policies targeting asylum seekers—nothing to do with labor shortages in the care sector.
In conclusion, while Germany is trying to address its labor issues, the specific needs of elderly care workers aren't being addressed directly by the current immigration policies. That's a topic worth keeping an eye on, don't you think? Europe, as a whole, acknowledges the need for migrant caregivers due to aging populations. Still, Germany would need to develop tailored policies to tackle the elderly care sector's particular challenges [1]. Stay tuned for updates!
In light of Germany's growing labor shortage in the care sector and the increasing importance of foreign workers in this field, it could be beneficial for the government to consider tailoring its employment policies to address the unique needs of elderly care workers. For instance, implementing policies specific to this sector could help attract more care workers and improve the health-and-wellness of the elderly population, especially given the advancements in science and the growing emphasis on health-and-wellness.
