Germany seeks to boost immigration of skilled workers

BERLIN (AP) — The German government says it plans to ease entry rules for immigrants from outside the European Union to help meet Germany’s demand for skilled workers. Experts say Germany needs about 400,000 skilled immigrants each year as the country’s ageing workforce shrinks, particularly to fill vacancies in the health care, IT and construction sectors. Cabinet agreed on a draft proposal that would help would-be immigrants from outside the EU get their skills and qualifications recognized and lower language requirements for sectors such as IT. Labor Minister Hubertus Heil said Wednesday that apart from providing more language training abroad, Germany would also have to do more to highlight what it has to offer if it wants to compete with other countries for skilled workers.