The reports said that one out of seven workers in Germany is a foreigner, so that they already represent around 15 percent of the employees registered in the social security system.

In some sectors, this share is even higher, and rising, the report noted.

Panu Poutvaara, a migration expert at the IFO economic research institute, underscored that many sectors rely heavily on foreign workers.

According to Poutvaara and BA figures from March 2023, there is a particularly high proportion of immigrants among workers in cleaning services (41 percent), food processing (38 percent), building construction and civil engineering (33 percent) and tourism and hospitality (32 percent).

Immigrants are clearly over-represented in the transport and logistics sectors, as well as in agriculture. The participation of foreigners ramped up lately in general.

Martin Lange, a labor market expert at the Center for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim, stressed that without immigration, Germany’s welfare is at risk.

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