A new internet platform aims to help skilled workers from third countries find suitable jobs in EU Member States more easily in the future.
In order to counteract the shortage of qualified workers, the European Commission intends to facilitate the immigration of talented migrants willing to work. On the one hand, a digital talent pool will be created through which third-country nationals will be able to apply for a job in the EU. On the other hand, bureaucratic obstacles to legal immigration must be reduced.
“We will need seven million more workers in the EU by 2030,” said Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson. As examples, the Commission not only cites the need for the geriatric care sector, which has a latent shortage of staff, but also for future areas such as green technology or digitalisation. Hundreds of thousands of additional workers are needed here. In total, there are 42 professional sectors in which there is currently a shortage.
The Commissioner responsible for migration, Margaritis Schinas, sees the need for action for two reasons: “We still have unused staff in the EU, but that will not be enough”. qualified workers.
Voluntary participation
However, the new mechanism is not intended to force Member States to allow more legal immigration. This is just an offer, says Schinas, to eliminate bottlenecks in the job market. Addressing populist parties who see such measures as a flood of immigrants, Schinas said: “This is not about a fortress Europe, but about an open Europe in the sense of the economy.”
No member state will be forced to participate. For the system to work, participating EU states will have to ensure that job applications are screened more efficiently. Commission representatives did not want to deny that legally immigrant workers could later move to other Member States. However, the promised job gives them great motivation to stay in the host country.
To date, EURES is the only platform of its kind for EU citizens that promotes internal labor mobility. The EU has already agreed several talent partnerships with countries such as Bangladesh and Morocco. In exchange for hiring legally immigrant workers, help with training is offered. Furthermore, agreements have been concluded with these countries for the return of unrecognized asylum seekers.