More than half of cooks in Germany had an immigration background in 2025, as well as about a third of all nurses and dental assistants.
From gastronomy to production and manufacturing, healthcare to passenger and freight transport; employees with an immigrant background are disproportionately represented in many bottleneck occupations in Germany.
This was confirmed on Monday in preliminary figures from the 2025 microcensus by Germany’s Federal Statistics Office (Destatis), which showed that people with an immigration background made up a disproportionate share of workers in jobs that are classified by the Federal Employment Agency as shortage occupations.
The figures highlight the growing importance of immigrants and their German-born children for Germany’s workforce and economy at a time when the country’s political landscape is largely embroiled in immigration policy debates.
Which jobs have the most workers with an immigration background?
If you ever eat at restaurants in Germany, you can thank an immigrant. More than half (56 percent) of cooks in the country in 2025 had an immigration background.
This also applied to more than half of the employees in food production (55 percent), and also in flooring (54 percent), scaffolding (51 percent) and meat processing (51 percent).
The proportion of workers with immigration backgrounds was also above average among bus and tram drivers and service staff in the catering industry (47 percent each).
And in nursing professions, where roughly one-third of all workers have an immigration history.
The proportion of employees with an immigrant background is also well above the overall economic average in other shortage occupations: for example, in plastics and rubber production (44 percent), among professional drivers in freight transport (41 percent), in hotel service (40 percent), for dental assistants (32 percent) or in construction electrics (29 percent).
In the economy as a whole, just over a quarter (27 percent) of all employees had an immigration background.
Destatis defines a person as having an “immigration background” if they or both of their parents have immigrated to Germany since 1950.
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Which jobs have fewer workers with immigration backgrounds?
The lowest proportion of employees with an immigrant background in a bottleneck occupation was found in emergency services (seven percent), in the sale of meat products (13 percent) and in agriculture (15 percent).
People with an immigrant background are similarly underrepresented in some occupational groups that are not shortage occupations, including; police enforcement service (eight percent), public administration and judicial administration (nine percent) and teachers (around 10 percent).
Large number of immigrants join the labour force
The statistics show that a majority of immigrants from all places of origin join Germany’s labour market. But the figures also illustrate that how quickly one can integrate into the workforce depends on various factors.
Immigrants from EU countries – which benefit from having the right to move freely and work in Germany (and often faster recognition of their professional qualifications) – tend to integrate into the labour market early on. 89 percent of men in this group aged 25 to 59, and 73 percent of women, who had lived in Germany for less than five years were employed in 2025.
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For other groups of immigrants, the process of finding employment in Germany can sometimes take longer.
Among immigrants coming from Africa, 79 percent of men in this age group, who had also lived in Germany for less than five years, were employed. Among women in this group, 47 percent were employed.
Among immigrants from the Middle East, of the same ages and length of stay, 57 percent of men and 28 percent of women were employed.
The employment rate tends to grow across all groups as people stay in Germany for longer, ultimately converging with that of the general German population.
For example, among immigrants from the Middle East who have lived in Germany for 20 to 25 years, 87 percent of men were employed and 79 percent of women.
By comparison, among all 25 to 59-year-olds – with or without an immigration history – 88 percent of men were employed and 81 percent of women.
However, recent federal policy changes – under the current black-red government led by chancellor Friedrich Merz and the conservative-CDU/CSU – appear to be aimed more at preventing certain immigrants from entering the country than supporting those who have already arrived in joining the workforce.
READ ALSO: Can Germany still attract foreign workers as skilled labour shortages spike?
Germany has slashed funding for integration courses, for example, and also ended a programme meant to help people with “tolerated” status from gaining a more secure type of residence permit.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: thelocal.de
