Recruiting Highly Skilled Labour Abroad - the Practice of Other OECD Countries

The proposal made by Chancellor Gerhard Schröder to "import" information technology specialists from eastern Europe and developing countries has touched off a lively debate. Proponents of the initiative point out that without foreign specialists, the development of the IT sector in Germany could be jeopardized. The critics recognize the existence of a lack of specialists but want to reduce it by educating and training German workers. To some extent they also reject Schröder's 'Green Card' initiative since they see in it the beginnings of a true immigration policy. In most OECD countries, recourse to foreign specialists is a matter of common practice. But they utilize the potential of highly qualified foreigners in different ways. The Anglo-Saxon countries, above all Australia, Canada and the United States, allow many foreigners to enter. Japan and Korea also issue large numbers of limited work permits. Only France and the Netherlands tend to be more restrictive vis-à-vis the temporary stay of specialists from non-EU countries. Germany has already opened its borders to skilled workers from industrial countries (with labour-market restrictions, of course), but in light of the personnel bottlenecks in the IT area, it would be advantageous to grant limited work permits to experts from eastern Europe and developing countries. At the same time, immediate measures in education and training should be introduced in order to increase the supply of IT specialists in Germany.