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Read, Debate: Engage.
| topic: | Economic Opportunity |
|---|---|
| located: | Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| editor: | Katarina Panić |
In Germany, the Skilled Immigration Act will enter into force as of tomorrow. The new bill makes it easier for qualified professionals from non-EU countries to migrate to Germany to work. The Western Balkans have been one of the net exporters of human resources.
The media in Bosnia and Herzegovina repeatedly exploit the news ever since German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that many sectors and businesses will face a shortage of skilled workers and without sufficient skilled workers.
"That is why we must make every effort to recruit a sufficient number of specialists. Otherwise, companies will have to migrate — and, of course, we do not want that", Merkel added in her weekly podcast mid-December.
German Embassy to Bosnia recently published it had released 17.5 thousand visas last year, which is up 3,000 from the previous year.
"What is wrong with our country?" my oldest daughter asked me when she was eight-year-old. "Every now and then someone leaves". At that time, she started to notice it at school, in piano lessons, in English and German classes. Now, she is eleven, and she no longer asks these questions. From time to time, she only reports who is moving abroad, when and where exactly. She's just back from her friend's birthday celebration in a patisserie. "It seems that Željana is moving to Germany too. She never mentioned that herself, but I just heard her mother tell the waitress they are about to leave", my daughter told me.
In the last six months only, her friends Lana, Mila, Nina and Ognjen left the country. With their whole families. Teona is about to leave. She has an older brother and a younger sister. Their father is a museum director, and their mother is an interviewer, currently retraining to become a nurse. They both take German lessons online.
"He is doing so good with languages, I'm not, so I'm frustrated because of that", she said.
They have a house in the village. They bought an apartment in the city. They want to leave partially because all their relatives already left, somewhat because they don't see a bright future for their kids here.
"I'm totally determined to leave; he's still a little hesitant. If nothing changes here, sure we should leave", she added.
Lack of health care for workers is a critical challenge in many European countries. German Society for International Cooperation, GIZ estimates that Germany will need 500,000 additional nurses by 2030.
A local politician in Prijedor addressed the youth last month: "We barely managed to increase the minimum monthly wage from €250 to €260. The average salary is still below €500. The labour market is open. We cannot forbid people to leave. We cannot compete with Germany".
