Germany's Exodus of Skilled Workers Gathers Pace
June 24, 2008
About 160,000 skilled workers and managers left Europe's biggest economy in 2007 to take their chances in other parts of the world, the survey said.
"They belonged to the creme de la creme of our elite," said deputy economics minister Walther Otremba.
The survey was carried out for Germany's Department of Economics and Technology by the consultant group, Prognos.
The survey found that of about 83 per cent of the Germans working outside the country on a long-term basis had academic qualifications.
The release of the survey also underscores the problem that Germany along with other nations is facing as a result of growing skilled labor shortages.
The most popular destinations for the highly skilled German workers were the United States, Great Britain and Switzerland, the Prognos survey found.
Pay scales in Germany have stagnated in recent years.
With this in mind, about 68 per cent of those surveyed said that better pay was a key reason for them pulling out of Germany.
Other reasons included better career prospects as well the chance of a higher quality of life.
About 53 per cent of those surveyed described Germany's income and employment situation as unsatisfactory.
Of those surveyed, 38 per cent criticized what they saw as Germany's high taxes and social welfare contributions.
That said, 46 per cent of the skilled German labor said they could imagine returning to their homeland.