Foreign Workers Now Drive All Net Employment Growth in Germany
As of 2025, non-EU and EU migrants account for 100% of net new jobs in Germany, with 5.7 million foreign nationals employed and immigration routes expanding to fill persistent skill gaps across construction, logistics, and manufacturing.
As of September 2025, 5.7 million foreign nationals held employment subject to social security contributions—16.4% of all such employees. More tellingly, foreign workers are now driving all net employment growth in Germany, filling gaps that domestic labour cannot supply.
This represents a structural shift. More than 55.7% of foreign employees come from outside the EU, reflecting both policy changes and the limits of what EU free movement alone can supply. In concrete terms: in 2024, about 47% of 586,000 new long-term immigrants arrived under EU free movement (roughly 275,000), while about 11% (64,000) were classified as labour migrants from non-EU countries.
Where the Demand Is
Construction and personal services hold the tightest shortages; as of January 2026, around 30.4% of construction firms and 30.6% of transport-logistics firms reported unfilled gaps. Manufacturing sat lower at around 16.6%.
The Hiring Paradox
The labour-market puzzle is sharp: around 1.14 million skilled workers were unemployed in 2024, yet hundreds of thousands of jobs went unfilled—because only about 25% of unemployed workers searched in bottleneck occupations, while roughly half of 439,000 full-time skilled job postings came from those exact shortage fields. Qualification mismatch, not absolute unemployment, is the real barrier.
For Expat Job Seekers
If you hold a recognized qualification and can prove German language skills (A1+), you are arriving at a moment when German employers have no choice but to look abroad. The Chancenkarte (Opportunity Card), EU Blue Card, and Skilled Worker Visa are not bureaucratic niceties—they reflect a genuine, structural need. Construction, logistics, IT, healthcare, and engineering roles are actively hiring non-EU workers at all experience levels. For expats with credentials and determination, 2026 is a strong entry window.
Sources
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