Economic Challenges: Why Growth in Germany Will Not Succeed Without Immigration and Reforms
Billions for investments, but hardly any workers to implement them: Bert Rürup and Michael Hüther warn that the federal government is ignoring one of the most pressing growth issues.
In the latest episode of Economic Challenges, Handelsblatt Chief Economist Bert Rürup and Michael Hüther, Director of the German Institute of Economic Affairs, identify a structural void in Germany's growth model: the billion-euro investment program by the federal government will fail without the necessary workforce. Both parties agree that Germany has historically accompanied every growth surge with significant immigration, making the current trend concerning: the net immigration dropped from 663,000 people in 2023 to around 235,000 in 2025.
When qualified immigration is not available in sufficient quantities, Rürup and Hüther believe the only lever left is to "flexibilize the labor volume – there are no other options," says Rürup. Hüther adds that combining capital and labor could also unlock productivity spaces. Both are irked that neither the Union nor the SPD are publicly addressing this issue.
The central focus of this episode is how an aging society with a shrinking workforce can secure its growth potential and why politics hesitates to provide an answer. An exclusive subscription offer for all listeners of Handelsblatt Economic Challenges is available at https://www.handelsblatt.com/global.
Written by urgent.news from Handelsblatt's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
