Experts Expect Higher Unemployment Rates in Germany Due to Refugee Influx

(Photo: dpa)

Originally appeared at DWN, translated by John T. Sumner exclusively for SouthFront

The Federal Government expects that unemployment will rise again in the coming years, caused by the high influx of migrants. According to the INSM (“Initiative Neue Soziale Marktwirtschaft” = New Social Market Economy), around 3.5 billion Euro will be needed due to education spending for refugees.

The Federal Government is adapting itself to an increase of unemployment rates due to the ongoing migrant crisis for the first time in years. The Federal Ministry of Finance would assume that the number of unemployed will rise by approximately 110,000 to a total of 2.86 million during the next year, AFP reports. The Ministry would consider the “ongoing influx of refugees” as the cause for this increase. It would be the first increase in unemployment since 2013.

According to estimations of the Treasury, the unemployment rate would climb to an average of 3.1 million until 2020, the newspaper reports. However, at the same time, the number of employees would rise too: The Government would assume an increase of more than a million to a total of 44.1 million workers by 2020.

The Bild newspaper also cited from a new study regarding an improvement of education and integration of refugees. According to this study, investments of around 3.5 billion Euros per year would be necessary to compensate for shortcomings in the integration of refugees, the newspaper said, referring to a survey (“Bildungsmonitor Spezial”) of the INSM.

According to the authors of the study, in addition to language courses, the creation of more day care places, school- and apprenticeship places and special offers for refugees willing to start a career, would be mandatory in order to successfully integrate these people.

For refugee children, around 100,000 new places in childcare centers would be necessary, costing approximately 689 million Euro, in addition to 120,000 new places in schools at a cost of about 1.28 billion Euros. It would cost another 1.2 billion Euros to prepare an estimated 120,000 young refugees for an education.

“Only well-educated refugees will be prepared for the labor market, which will be the best precondition for a successful integration,” INSM managing director Hubertus Pellengahr told the Journal.

“This way, wise investments could pay twice: for those affected and for the business location Germany.”