BAMF Monitoring Report on Educational and Labor Migration 2024 Published

Immigration of skilled workers and other workers declined noticeably in 2024. While over 71,000 people immigrated directly into the German labor market for the first time in 2023, this number fell to around 54,500 in 2024 – a drop of a full 23 percent . For a labor market that urgently needs international skilled workers , this is a clear warning sign. Although the total number of residence permits for employment purposes, including extensions, rose slightly, this increase cannot disguise the fact that the direct recruitment of new skilled workers from third countries has stalled.

The Federal Government's skilled worker strategy is inadequate

According to calculations by the IAB (Institute for Employment Research), Germany needs around 400,000 migrant workers annually to stabilize its labor force. However, in 2024 , only about 13 percent of this required number actually entered the country. For years, businesses and experts have criticized excessively long procedures, a lack of digitalization, and a complex, sometimes contradictory, legal framework . As a result, the skilled worker shortage is worsening – and is increasingly cited as a reason for Germany's persistent economic weakness.

Part of the decline can be explained statistically. Since mid-2023, German embassies and consulates have frequently been issuing visas for employment and education purposes with a validity of up to twelve months. As a result, many residence permits are only recorded in the following year. Some visas even expire before entry, which further distorts the figures. Nevertheless, the structural trend remains: initial immigration into the labor market is declining.

Educational migration is increasing

At the same time, the number of people coming to Germany for educational purposes is growing. In 2024, almost 75,000 residence permits were granted for the first time as part of educational migration, predominantly to students . Many of these individuals later transition to labor migration, which happened to around 46,300 people in 2024. The data also paints a heterogeneous picture within the labor migration sector itself: Skilled workers from India , Turkey , and the Western Balkans remain particularly well represented. Overall, at the end of 2024, almost 600,000 people with a residence permit for employment were living in Germany – a moderate increase compared to the previous year, but one that does not compensate for the significant decline in new skilled workers.

It is also striking that many third-country nationals work in Germany using other residence permits . In September 2024, over 3.1 million of them were employed and subject to social security contributions, significantly more than appear in the official labor migration statistics. The group of Turkish nationals is particularly large; Ukrainian employees recorded the strongest increase compared to the previous year.

Conclusion of the BAMF monitoring report on educational and labor migration 2024

The bottom line is that Germany doesn't have a demand problem, but a systemic one. The need for international skilled workers is immense, yet the procedures are too slow, too complex, and too unreliable. The figures for 2024 impressively confirm that Germany continues to underutilize the potential of global labor mobility. If this doesn't change, the skills shortage will become a permanent competitive disadvantage.