“It is understandable that people first go to the metropolitan areas and industrial centers.”
(Photo: obs)
Berlin The President of the Federal Association of Liberal Professions (BFB), Friedemann Schmidt, assesses the job opportunities for refugees from Ukraine as positive, but expects that a large proportion will return to their homeland after the end of the war.
From personal conversations with refugees and helpers, he knows “that the will to return is very great – and I would be happy if it could be fulfilled quickly in as many cases as possible,” said Schmidt in an interview with the Handelsblatt. Schmidt is also President of the Saxon State Chamber of Pharmacists.
The prerequisite for professional integration is first and foremost language skills. Therefore, there must be a wide range of integration courses.
The liberal professions, which include, for example, pharmacists, notaries, non-medical practitioners, physiotherapists, doctors, engineers or architects, would have the advantage of being spread out over a wide area. You could also offer refugees a professional perspective away from the metropolitan areas, said Schmidt.
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The BFB President sees the liberal professions at a disadvantage compared to other sectors of the economy when it comes to recruiting young professionals. “We are often not competitive in terms of salaries compared to industry or the public sector,” he explained. In the pharmacies, in anticipation of the increase in the statutory minimum wage, “the entire tariff structure had to be pushed up by a little more than ten percent in order to attract junior staff”.
Read the full interview here:
Mr. Schmidt, can refugees from Ukraine help alleviate the shortage of skilled workers in the liberal professions?
From personal conversations with refugees and helpers, I know that there is a great desire to return – and I would be happy if it could be fulfilled quickly in as many cases as possible. But if a return is not possible, we as freelancers are of course very interested in giving the refugees who are qualified or those who are to be qualified a professional future.
A bottleneck in professional integration is often the recognition of qualifications. Isn’t that particularly difficult in the area of protected liberal professions?
The chambers are currently examining to what extent academic degrees from Ukraine can be recognized here. I am very optimistic that this will happen quickly. After all, many young people from Africa or Asian countries have studied in Ukraine, which indicates a high level of education and internationally recognized qualifications.
The language barrier remains. Pharmacists, non-medical practitioners or notaries should already be able to speak German, shouldn’t they?
I am somewhat surprised that many Ukrainian refugees do not speak German or English as well as one might have expected. But here, too, freelancers could quickly find a remedy, especially with the technical language, simply through practice in their practices, law firms, offices and pharmacies. The prerequisite, however, is that a foundation is laid, for example through a wide range of integration courses.
Refugees who have no relatives or other contact persons should be distributed among the federal states according to the so-called Königstein key. The Institute for Labor Market and Vocational Research sees the danger that they will be distributed to structurally weak regions where it is difficult for them to gain a foothold on the labor market.
It is understandable that people first go to the metropolitan areas and industrial centers. However, there are freelancers everywhere in the country – even in rural areas. You could therefore help to give refugees a professional perspective in the area and to ensure a broader regional distribution.
Would you also give prospects to Russians who are turning their backs on their homeland?
Of course, even if I am shocked by the polls, according to which a majority of Russians support the Ukraine war. But I grew up in the GDR and I know what effects state propaganda has on people’s thinking and knowledge horizons. You cannot hold all Russian citizens responsible for what is happening in Ukraine right now. I reckon that a significant part of Russia’s intellectual elite will sooner or later leave their homeland.
>> Read more about the brain drain from Russia here: “There is no future for me under Putin” – More and more Russians are leaving their country
The start-up activity in Germany suffered greatly during the pandemic, even if the number of start-ups rose again slightly last year. Why is it that fewer and fewer people are building their own professional lives?
Especially in the first phase of the pandemic, many small self-employed people felt left alone with the help, and that is having an impact. The fact that the willingness to start a business is declining also has something to do with the heavy juridification and bureaucracy. Large companies appoint an officer for data protection or compliance issues or set up an entire department. Freelancers are mostly on their own here.
Does it perhaps also have something to do with the high workload that founders face, especially in the initial phase – and with uncertain prospects?
There are freelancers who pride themselves on working 60 hours a week, including weekends. But with this professional ethos, no state can be made with the younger generation. As far as the economic prospects are concerned, they are usually a bit easier to calculate in the freelance professions than in the start-up sector. Especially when young people decide to take over a pharmacy or a law firm with an established customer base. We have a great need for that.
Freelancers also have trouble finding trainees. Why is it?
We try to go to schools early and provide information, which was difficult recently due to the pandemic. And we must also become better at preventing apprenticeship dropouts. But we also see that there is a need to catch up in school education and that prospective trainees often do not have the necessary skills.
Does it also play a role that you can earn more in other branches of the economy?
When it comes to salaries, we are often not competitive compared to industry or the public sector. In the case of the medical professions, for example, this is also due to the fee regulations, which have not been adjusted for years. In anticipation of the increase in the statutory minimum wage, we had to raise the entire tariff structure at pharmacies by a little more than ten percent in order to attract junior staff.
Mr Schmidt, thank you very much for the interview.
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