Germany: Foreigners Account for One in Three Long-Term Unemployed People

Foreigners now make up at least one in three people considered long-term unemployed in Germany after soaring by over 40 per cent since 2018.

Despite longstanding claims that migrants are necessary to fill job positions, figures from Germany’s Federal Employment Agency (BA) have found that 33 per cent of long-term unemployed — those remaining jobless for over a year — people in the country last year did not hold German citizenship.

Broadcaster NTV reports that in 2024, around 972,000 people in the country were long-term unemployed, around 317,000 of whom did not hold a German passport.

This represented a significant increase over past years, with foreign citizens making up around 187,000, or 23 per cent, of all long-term unemployed people in Germany in 2018.

The actual number of unemployed migrants living in the country may be much higher, given that the figures did not account for people who were born abroad and later attained German citizenship.

The data was released following a request from Alternative for Germany MP Rene Springer, who said that the figures demonstrated a failure to integrate foreigners into the labour market.

“Instead of forcing more and more immigration, the domestic workforce potential must finally be promoted and targeted investments in qualifications,” the AfD lawmaker said.

Germany’s generous welfare state has also been accused of facilitating long-term unemployment, with many claiming that it is sometimes more financially advantageous to remain on the government dole rather than return to work.

Many unemployed people in Germany, including legal migrant residents, are eligible for Bürgergeld, or a “citizen’s allowance.” Currently, a single adult can receive up to €563 ($612/£474) a month, in some cases indefinitely, in addition to state subsidies covering their rent, health insurance, and heating costs.

According to the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), the number of people who have successfully re-integrated into the labour market since the introduction of the Bürgergeld in 2022 has fallen by six per cent.

The sizeable bureaucratic apparatus accompanying the welfare programme exacerbates its cost to the country. A study released this month by the Bertelsmann Foundation found that the Jobcentres that oversee the Bürgergeld system on a local level received €10.7 billion ($11.6/£9 billion) in 2024, of which 6.5 billion euros were devoted to administrative costs, an increase of 39 per cent over a decade ago.

“Some Jobcenters spend as much as 70 per cent of their budget” on bureaucracy, the study found.

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