Reduce Employee Holiday: here is the solution proposed by German employers to offset the lack of labor in small and medium enterprises. "We must reduce our gains and build only four weeks of leave if we are to sustain growth," today called Ursula Frerichs, president of the Association of SMEs in the daily Bild.
After a difficult 2009, German growth should reach 3% this year according to estimates by the Bundesbank.For manufacturers, the challenge now is to keep the pace of recovery: "The order books are full again and we need everybody," is justified Mario Ohoven, president of the Federation of medium-sized enterprises, which calls for a limit, at least temporarily, in five weeks instead of six holidays for employees.
Use immigration
The issue of skilled labor is beginning to give cold sweats to employers. The industry is already in need of youth: 15,000 training places have been filled at the eve of the return. A McKinsey study of the agency pulled the alarm earlier this year: if companies do not focus now on the recruitment and training, they will not find 2 million people they will need in 2020. For Germany Older: quarter of the population over 60 years, they will be 37% in ten years.Companies are beginning to adapt. At BMW, we test an assembly adapted to seniors, to allow workers to work until age 67. Europe has even called for postponing the retirement age to 70 years to compensate for the lack of young people.
Another much-discussed solution: the use of immigration. The Minister of Economy Liberal Rainer Brüderl, discussed the opening of borders for skilled foreigners, which is not palatable to the conservatives. But reality is cruel: Germany has already lost the people. "An aging population less innovative, it must get used to the idea that Germany will never be as rich as before," says demographer Steffen Krohnert. The only good news: Germany could briefly about the return of full employment before 2020 if it maintains its growth by then.