The German business community views the recent influx of refugees as an opportunity to help companies grow and ensure long-term prosperity. Many are calling for the bureaucratic red tape to be lifted so that newcomers can enter the labor market faster.

The massive influx of foreigners creates immense challenges for society. Many local authorities are overwhelmed, and refugee hostels, temporary housing and tent cities are overcrowded. The social welfare system and government budgets are faced with billions in additional costs. But the influx also provides opportunities for the German economy. Despite the official unemployment figure of almost 2.8 million, the business community urgently needs workers. And every refugee or migrant who finds work becomes less of a drain on the public coffers. The German economy is dependent on immigration, both from Europe as well as from people entering the country due to asylum rights in Germany. With the German population shrinking, businesses are unable to fill many jobs, and specialised workers are increasingly rare. This trend will only be exacerbated in the coming years will jeopardise the country's future prosperity.

Germany has been a country of immigration since the mid-1960s, when the number of guest workers passed the 1-million mark. Nevertheless, the country still lacks a modern immigration law. Germany is, however, starting to recognise that it must avail itself of the skills of those already in the country.

"There are no representative studies on the qualification structure of asylum-seekers and refugees," says Herbert Brücker of the Nuremberg Institute for Employment Research, who has analysed the existing data. The qualification structure of asylum-seekers and refugees varies. About a fifth have a university degree, but at the same time, 50 to 60 percent have no professional training. "There is hardly anything between these two extremes," says Brücker. "Immigration that falls under asylum law and involving people who come to Germany to join their families leads to polarisation." The problem is that the German labor market has a shortage of skilled personnel with moderate qualifications.

Like most labor market economists, Brücker advocates promoting labor migration more aggressively in the western Balkans and lowering the hurdles. This would make it possible to grant a limited right of residence to people with completed professional training and a guaranteed job at a guaranteed minimum pay level.

There are still many opportunities to improve the situation of refugees and migrants, while easing pressures on the labor market at the same time.

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