German study: Skills gap could be cut by employing migrant women

More than half a million migrant women could make a big contribution to reducing the skills shortage in Germany, according to a new study from the German Economic Institute (IW), a pro-business think tank.

The approximately 530,000 women in this category should be rapidly integrated into the labour market, said Lydia Malin, the author of the study by the IW’s skills unit (Kofa). The unit reported that a total of 1.3 million women in Germany were unemployed in 2024.

Malin highlighted potential for sectors with severe shortages, including the care and education sectors.

According to the study, in 2024, more than 40% of all working women in Germany were employed in jobs affected by a skills shortage.

The study recommends that companies should target foreign women when recruiting. Flexible working hours, childcare support and part-time working should be offered, it said, noting that around a third of unemployed women expressed a wish for reduced working hours for family reasons.

It found that many foreign women looked for jobs that they were overqualified for and that many had completed a professional or academic course. The reasons included unrecognized certificates and difficulties in finding a job in their field where they could combine their family responsibilities.

Malin believes that many migrant women could work in jobs with a shortage of workers, such as sales, bookkeeping and medical assistants.

The study calls on employers to check whether women can be employed without formal qualification, possibly with in-service training. “In a number of sectors, the skills gaps can be completely closed on at least considerably reduced,” Malin says.