Germany Faces Worker Shortage, Looks to India for Skilled Labour

Updated by Faith Barbara N Ruhinda at 1242 EAT on Monday 23 March 2026

Germany continues to face a significant shortage of skilled workers as aging employees retire and there are too few young candidates to replace them. To address the gap, the country is increasingly looking to workers from India.

For Handirk von Ungern-Sternberg, the process began with an unexpected email in February 2021—from India.
The message read: “We have lots of young, motivated people looking for vocational training and we’re wondering if you’re interested.”

At the time, Von Ungern-Sternberg was working with the Freiburg Chamber of Skilled Crafts in southwest Germany, a trade body representing professions ranging from bricklayers and carpenters to butchers and bakers, along with the companies that employ them.

The email arrived at a critical moment.
“We had a lot of desperate employers who couldn’t find anyone to work for them,” Von Ungern-Sternberg said. “So we decided to give it a chance.”

His first call was to the head of the local butchers’ guild. The butchery sector across Germany was facing a serious crisis, in sharp decline over the past two decades.
From 19,000 small, family-run businesses in 2002, fewer than 11,000 remained by 2021. Employers struggled to recruit young apprentices, as fewer people were choosing the trade.

“The butchery trade is hard work,” said Joachim Lederer, head of the butchers’ guild. “And for the last 25 years or so, young people have been going in other directions.”

Back in India, the employment agency Magic Billion—the sender of the initial outreach email—recruited 13 young people who arrived in Germany in autumn 2022 to begin butchery apprenticeships in small towns along the Swiss border. Part of their training would take place at college.

Among them was 21-year-old Anakha Miriam Shaji, leaving India for the first time.

“I wanted to see the world,” she said. “I wanted to improve my living standard and have good social security.”

Anakha joined Lederer’s workshop in the town of Weil am Rhein, in southwestern Germany near both the Swiss and French borders.

Three years later, the landscape has shifted. Von Ungern-Sternberg no longer works at the chamber. He has launched his own employment agency, India Works, in partnership with Aditi Banerjee of Magic Billion, to help bring more young Indian workers to Germany.

From the original 13 recruits, the program has expanded to include 200 young Indians now working in German butchers’ shops.

Germany is facing a demographic crisis, with its economy in urgent need of foreign workers. A 2024 study by the Bertelsmann Foundation think tank found that the country needs to attract 288,000 foreign workers per year. Without this influx, the workforce could shrink by 10% by 2040.

As the last of the baby boomer generation retires, there are not enough young Germans to replace them, due in part to the country’s low birth rate. In contrast, India has a large, youthful population eager to enter the workforce.

“India is a country with 600 million people under the age of 25,” said Aditi Banerjee, co-founder of India Works. “Only 12 million enter the workforce every year, so there’s a huge labour surplus.”

India Works plans to bring 775 young Indians to Germany this year to begin apprenticeships across a wide range of professions, including road building, mechanics, stonemasonry, and baking.

Skilled Indian workers have found it easier to move to Germany since the two countries signed the 2022 Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreement. In late 2024, Germany also raised its skilled work visa quota for Indian citizens from 20,000 to 90,000 per year.

Official figures show that the number of Indian workers in Germany jumped from 23,320 in 2015 to 136,670 in 2024, highlighting the growing role of India in addressing Germany’s labour shortage.

Young Indians employed in Germany through India Works cite similar reasons for their move: limited job prospects at home, higher salaries in Europe, and the desire to carve out their own path in life.

Take 20-year-old Ishu Gariya, for example. After finishing high school in India, he had been considering a university degree and a career in computers.

“But I didn’t want to waste my money on a degree only to end up working for a low wage,” he said.

Instead, Gariya left a Delhi suburb for a village in Germany’s Black Forest region, where he is now a baker’s apprentice. His work often runs until 3 a.m., and he layers up in a hooded down jacket to withstand the winter cold. Despite the long hours, he says he is happy with his decision.

Joachim Lederer, who initially took in two of the first Indian apprentices, now employs seven young Indians in his butchery business. He credits the new recruits with keeping his business afloat.

“When I started 35 years ago, there were eight shops like mine within a 10km radius,” Lederer said. “Now I’m the only one left. I wouldn’t be in business today without India.”

Just up the street at the town hall in Weil am Rhein, Mayor Diana Stöcker of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is also preparing to hire workers from India. The municipality has identified two young men who will arrive later this year to work as kindergarten teachers.

“We’ve been searching for teachers all over Germany,” she said. “But they’re really hard to find.”

A former member of the German Bundestag, Stöcker was elected mayor in 2024. She highlighted the broader challenge facing Germany: the shortage of young talent across multiple sectors.

-BBC

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