Germany is a country of immigration. That should be clear to everyone by now. But the tough debates of recent decades about whether or not Germany sees itself as a country of immigration have unfortunately not led to the profound modernization that our society so desperately needs.
The Federal Republic not only lags significantly behind other states when it comes to legislation on the subject of migration, the classic mistake is often made in political debates of only looking at the current crisis from the perspective of the past crisis.
This can currently be observed again using the example of refugees from Afghanistan. Another important aspect of migration remains underexposed not only in this election campaign: We are nowhere near good enough in the global competition for talent! We need more controlled immigration of skilled workers, if only because Germany is getting older. In the mid-2020s, the baby boomer generation will gradually take their well-deserved retirement.
But we will never be able to maintain our prosperity if the labor force potential drops so drastically without compensation. And even if we fully exhaust all potential in Germany and finally make our pension system fit for the future through reforms, it is already clear that it will never work without more immigration that is geared to the needs of the labor market.
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However, coping with demographic change and meeting the need for skilled workers are only one side of the coin. Targeted immigration also secures one of the most important resources that guarantee prosperity in Germany: innovation. The two most important Germans of the decade are Özlem Türeci and Ugur Sahin. Her example shows the fundamental difference individual talent can make.
Many innovators were immigrants
The economic strength of their company Biontech, which manufactures the mRNA vaccine against Covid-19 that they helped to develop, could account for 0.5 percent of Germany’s total gross domestic product in 2021. But there is even more to be seen here: Türeci, Sahin, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk or Sergey Brins – many of the greatest innovators of our time were immigrants or the children of immigrants.
And that’s not a coincidence. Because immigration increases the innovation potential of a society, the diversity of people harbors a variety of ideas and ideas – luckily for us! This is also reflected in the figures: between 1994 and 2018, the proportion of patents in Germany that were registered by people with a migration background almost tripled. According to the Institute of German Economy, the growth in patent applications from Germany in recent years can only be owed to inventors with foreign roots.
In addition, there are considerable impulses for the start-up culture. Entrepreneurs are generally born innovators and take responsibility for an idea that doesn’t leave them alone. And, according to the Federal Ministry of Economics and the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, people with foreign roots are particularly likely to set up companies. So it is not surprising that companies run by migrants are represented above average in product innovations or innovative business processes, as the Institute for SME Research has stated.
If you don’t want to believe that, we recommend reading the current study by the Boston Consulting Group on the “Power of Human Migration in the 21st Century”. The result: Qualified immigration leads to increased prosperity. These figures only allow one conclusion: a modern, efficient social market economy and a self-confident, diverse immigration country are two sides of the same coin. The next federal government must therefore finally recognize the potential that lies in a diverse corporate culture and leverage it for the benefit of all.
Unbureaucratic access to the labor market
There are plenty of best practice examples of successful and growing companies and social enterprises – the co-author leads one herself. They take on social responsibility and specifically create attractive jobs. We believe that many people with different dreams, longings, experiences and ethnic backgrounds can form a unifying social bond – a task that will also become increasingly important for a super diverse Germany.
A modern immigration policy is a prerequisite. To date, there is a lack of attractive and unbureaucratic access to the labor market for skilled workers, which we urgently need – and the tax burden is unfortunately also world-class. Germany must no longer indulge in the dangerous illusion that talent is standing in line at the border. We finally have to take on the aggressive and promotional competition with traditional immigration countries such as Canada or New Zealand, for example through modern immigration law including a point system.
We have strong cornerstones for a responsible migration policy: The lively discussion about our individual and social diversity and, above all, our Basic Law as a foundation of values. But there is still a lot to be done when it comes to making Germany a safe and desirable new home for immigrants. Barriers to social advancement must finally be removed.
Integration efforts must be stepped up. Effort must always pay off, regardless of gender, origin, skin color or belief. Our goal must therefore not be to give away any more talent and it is one of the reasons to renew the promise of promotion. We need an education system that finally opens up opportunities regardless of home and origin – for example, through nationwide talent schools, i.e. particularly well-equipped schools, especially in the districts with the greatest social challenges – and also an opportunity-oriented basic security with fair additional income rules.
Stand up for an open society
Immigration is creative input from outside, social advancement the same thing from within. Both are irreplaceable drivers of innovation for our society and economy. More participation in society for everyone does not mean less participation for the privileged. The social structure is not a cake whose pieces get smaller through the recognition of diversity, on the contrary: They get bigger and with it everyone’s share of prosperity!
Just as we always have to improve the political framework for this, everyone is called upon to stand up for an open society. Without a culture of affection, even the best legal regulations are of no use. The coming federal government should understand this as one of its core tasks in a modern immigration country Germany.
The authors: Düzen Tekkal is a journalist, political scientist, human rights activist and founder of the cross-party educational initiative German Dream. She has Kurdish-Yazidi roots.
Johannes Vogel is Deputy Federal Chairman of the FDP as well as labor market and pension policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group in the German Bundestag.
More: The corona crisis exacerbates the shortage of skilled workers
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