For foreigners looking for a job in Germany health and elderly care is the sector that cannot be overlooked. The German healthcare sector is with seven million employees one of the largest employers in the country and also the one with most job vacancies. Apart from the additional five thousand medical doctors that are currently needed in the sector there is a huge shortage of other healthcare personnel, particularly nurses and caregivers. At the moment there are nearly one hundred thousand vacancies for nursing jobs in Germany and they are continuing to grow. It is estimated that additional 200 thousand nursing personnel (incl. nurses, caregivers and nursing assistants) will be needed by 2030.
Geriatric care is the fastest growing segment within the German healthcare sector. This is due to population aging and retirement of the “baby-boomer” generation that started only recently and will continue for another two decades. Germany has one of the longest life expectancies in Europe (82 years for men and 85 years for women) while 1.5 million Germans are over 90 years old. At the moment, nearly 2.6 million German seniors require long-term geriatric care and this number is estimated to grow to 3.5 million by 2030. Nearly one million people are employed in geriatric care in Germany today and many more will be needed in the future. However, for each 100 job openings for geriatric nursing personnel there are only about 35 interested applicants.
German authorities understand that it is impossible to find enough personnel in Germany to meet the growing demand and are therefore interested in recruiting foreign nurses, particularly from countries with high unemployment rate among nursing personnel. In 2013, the German government concluded bilateral agreements with the governments of Bosnia, Serbia, Philippines and Tunisia known as the “Triple Win Project” to help nurses from these countries find employment in Germany.
However, Germany is welcoming nursing personnel also from other countries provided they meet professional qualification requirements and learn German. In addition, the German government encourages foreigners to complete nursing vocational training programmer in Germany to become eligible for jobs in the German health and elderly care sector. At the moment, Spain, Poland, Croatia and some other East European countries supply most nurses to the German healthcare sector.