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IMMIGRATION

‘Germany’s foreign population – it’s time to make your voice heard!’

Chris Pyak sparked a national debate on immigration this week when he quit the Free Democrats over the party’s hardening stance on immigration. He argues in The Local that the time has come for internationals in Germany to stand up for their rights.

Published: 16 May 2018 14:26 CEST
‘Germany’s foreign population - it’s time to make your voice heard!’
Photo: DPA

A dog whistle is a curious thing. You can blow it as hard as you want, but unless those around you are canine they won’t hear it. The person blowing it can pretend they didn’t make a noise. But the dogs hear it loud and clear.

Stunned by the success of the far-right AfD, some leading German politicians made a choice: rather than standing up for a free society, they have pulled out the whistle instead. They choose their words wisely so they can play innocent – but the xenophobes out there hear what they are saying.

Jens Spahn, a member of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU), is a minister in the new German government. You might remember him – he’s the one who was upset about English-speaking waiters in Berlin restaurants. He repeats the far-right lie about a “failing state“ – and average Germans believe him. How many of them noticed that the crime rate dropped by 10% last year?

Alexander Dobrindt, a senior member of the governing Christian Social Union (CSU), is angry that refugees have the same right as every other person to defend themselves in court.

And now Christian Lindner, leader of the liberal Free Democrats (FDP), has proclaimed that every German has a “right“ to know that the person who “looks different“ next to him in the bakery is not ”illegal“. He says that the best way to fight xenophobia is to make sure there are no “illegal immigrants“ in our country.

But in saying so he threatened a fundamental right – and you might not even have noticed. The foundation of the rule of law is “innocent until proven guilty.” The social contract of German society is the same: “I assume that you are a decent person until you prove otherwise.”

Lindner tore this social contract to pieces. He used the example of a bakery visit to make clear: if you are a person who “looks different“ then the state needs to guarantee you are not a danger to good Germans.

Just like that, you became a second class citizen.

Why you need to speak up

I have been involved in politics for most of my life. Believe me, it’s never a majority that changes the world – it’s always a small group who push the majority their way.

It’s time to stand up!

All of us who are “different“ need to fight for our rights now. Some 20 million people in Germany have roots in other parts of the world; 40% of children under five have an “immigration background“.

READ ALSO: Frankfurt mayoral election – which candidate shares my political views?

But politicians don’t pay them any attention. Why? Because racists are visible everywhere and scream out their demands. Immigrants, Europeans and people who have become German through merit are largely invisible. We don’t raise our voices.

That’s why politicians pander to racists. Because you don’t speak up. You don’t vote. You don’t count.

But if you follow my advice, then they might start to listen.

Christian Lindner. Photo: DPA

What should be our first goal?

Have you noticed the rationalization that “AfD voters aren’t racist, they’re angry that they are ignored”?

How should we feel about this? We pay taxes and contribute to society – but many of us are not even allowed to vote.

“No taxation without representation.” This should be our first demand. Everyone who lives in Germany for an extended period of time, obeys the laws, feeds his own family and pays his taxes should have a say in how our country is run.

We should have the right to become German citizens, to vote and run for office – without having to cut out half of our heart. It’s time to finally allow dual citizenship for all.

SEE ALSO: Challenging what it means to be German: meet the hip hop party running for election

And in the long term: We should develop the European Union into a European Republic. Where the power lies with us citizens, through the European Parliament – not with national governments who make decisions behind the closed doors of the European Council.

Not only will we be able to deal with the challenges and promises of this connected, digital age, we will also overcome the unhealthy idea of “natives” versus “foreigners”.

Put politicians on a short leash

This is how we can build a society that respects every person as an individual.

Pay attention. The danger of dog whistle communication is that it hides behind innocent words. If you want to find out what a politician is really talking about, check which topics he addresses over and over again. Which phrases does he use? Who are his cheerleaders?

Christian Lindner is all “hurt innocence“ if you call him out on his dog whistle strategy. But the bakery incident is only the last in a long line of statements that portray foreigners as a danger, a burden, or in the best case a “resource.” He is more popular among AfD voters than their leader, Alexander Gauland. What does this tell you?

Politicians don’t care if you present them with 100,000 signatures. This is what I learned from a friend who is a member of the CDU faction in the Bundestag (German parliament).

What they care about are people in their constituency, because the citizens in their constituency get them re-elected. Want to have an appointment with your local MP? Get a few dozen voters in his constituency to get loud about your topic and put pressure on him. He’ll be dying to talk to you then.

Speak up!

Chris Pyak works as an employment consultant for foreign job seekers and is a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).

SEE ALSO: Why it's time we stop asking 'where are you from?' in Germany

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IMMIGRATION

Which job sectors in Germany depend the most on foreign workers?

Germany’s statistics office released a report that details the occupations worked the most by foreign workers, as well as those where people with an immigration background are underrepresented. Here's a look at which industries rely the most on foreign workers.

Published: 4 March 2024 16:01 CET
Updated: 10 March 2024 08:17 CET
Which job sectors in Germany depend the most on foreign workers?

On Friday, March 1st, Germany’s statistics office (Destatis) released figures, taken from the results of the 2022 micro-census, which suggest that people with an immigration background makeup a quarter of Germany’s workforce. 

It’s commonly understood that Germany is dependent on workers who have come from abroad. Recent figures suggest the country is already lacking an estimated 700,000 skilled workers, and that number is expected to grow until 2035. The only feasible means of plugging the labour gap, some experts suggest, would be taking in 400,000 skilled worker immigrants each year for the next decade.

READ ALSO: Better childcare to quicker visas: How Germany wants to attract more workers

But certain industries, such as catering or geriatric care, already depend overwhelmingly on the immigrant workforce, whereas in other types of work, such as policing, immigrants are severely underrepresented.

Which jobs do immigrants work the most?

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to suggest that Germany’s cleaning and catering industries wouldn’t function without workers from an immigration background.

Destatis found that 60 percent of all employees in the cleaning industry come from an immigration background. In the catering industry it’s 46 percent overall, including 51 percent of all cooks.

In this case, ‘an immigration background’ is defined as “someone who has immigrated to Germany since 1950, or whose parents have immigrated since 1950”, according to Destatis.

Employees with immigration backgrounds also fill an above average share of roles in the transport and logistics industries – at 38 percent overall, and just under 40 percent of bus and tram drivers. 

It seems that some municipal transportation companies are already aware of this trend. BVG recently told The Local that its focusing “specifically on the topic of diversity”, in its recent recruitment efforts.

READ ALSO: ‘No family life’: A Berlin bus driver explains why public transport workers are striking

In building and civil engineering as well, a large share of the workforce are people with an immigration background – including 40 percent of construction workers and 34 percent of those in interior design occupations.

construction worker in scaffolding

A construction worker walks over scaffolding on a building site. an estimated 40 percent of Germany’s construction workers come from an immigration background. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Marcus Brandt

Finally immigrants have taken on a growing share of medical and dental work. By the end of 2023, there were 63,763 doctors in Germany without a German passport, according to statistics from the German Medical Association. That number has doubled since 2013, when around 30,000 non-German doctors were practising in the country. Thirty years ago, in 1993, there were only around 10,000 foreign doctors.

According to Destatis, 27 percent of doctors in human medicine or dentistry are coming from immigration backgrounds. Additionally, in geriatric care, they make up 30 percent of the workforce, as well as 36 percent of personal care occupations, such as hairdressers and beauticians.

Which occupations are immigrants working the least?

On the other hand, people from immigration backgrounds are noticeably absent from other occupations.

As of 2022, only one out of 16 workers in police, court and prison occupations had an immigration history (or six percent), according to Destatis. 

People with immigration backgrounds are also underrepresented in the general armed forces (ten percent), among teachers in general schools (11 percent), and in agriculture (11 percent).

In banking and insurance occupations, employees with an immigrant background made up sixteen percent of the workforce.

Notably, people with immigration backgrounds are less likely to fill managerial positions, or to be executives or academics, while they are significantly more likely to work in low-skilled occupations. This seems to suggest that immigrants in Germany, who face language and cultural barriers, have less access to the kinds of opportunities that allow people to level-up in their careers.

How accurate is the data?

Destatis notes that these figures were based on a 2022 ‘microcensus’, in which roughly 1 percent of Germany’s total population was surveyed. All of the information was therefore self-reported by voluntary respondents.

The German workforce in this case refers to “the population in private main residence households aged 15 to 64 years”, which amounted to 53.4 million people in 2022, and did not include refugees.

More information can be found in the Destatis report.

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