A study conducted by scientists from the Berlin Institute for Population Development (BIB) aimed to determine the level of integration of migrants living in Germany and their children born here. According to BIB, there are about 15 million such people in the country.
To solve this task, BIB developed a so-called 'Integration Measurement Index' (Index zur Messung von Integration, IMI), which includes 20 indicators: level of assimilation, education, employment and social protection, the position of migrants compared to the majority of German society, etc. Integration was considered successful when the living conditions of people with migration backgrounds approached the living standards of the majority of native Germans.
As the results of the study, which covered representatives of the eight largest groups of non-native population, showed, the best integrated into German society are about 2 million people from other EU countries (excluding Southern Europe) permanently residing in Germany. Good integration indicators are also found among nearly 4 million ethnic German repatriates. Both of these groups arrived in Germany with a relatively high level of education and are fairly well oriented in the local labor market. Major integration deficits were noted among people from former Yugoslavia, Africa, and Turkey.
As the study emphasizes, of the approximately 2.8 million Turks living in Germany, almost half were born here. Nevertheless, even this second generation does not compensate for the educational deficit in the diaspora as a whole, which in this indicator has only slightly improved since the time when Turkish workers first appeared in Germany. For example, among Turks born in Germany, over 10% lack completed secondary education, which is seven times higher than among native Germans of the same age groups. As a result, their level of integration into the local labor market is extremely low.
As further noted in the study, at the regional level, integration proceeds better where the labor market can absorb the largest number of workers. Conversely, it encounters problems in places where large numbers of migrants with low levels of education and job skills reside.
At the federal level, relatively high integration indicators have been achieved in the states of Hesse and Hamburg, while the worst are in Saarland. Among major cities, the highest results were shown by Munich, Frankfurt am Main, Bonn, and Düsseldorf, while the worst were in the Ruhr region (primarily Duisburg and Dortmund), as well as Nuremberg.
At the same time, as BIB's study emphasizes, 'even in regions with the best integration results, people with a migration background are twice as likely as the native population to be unemployed and twice as likely to depend on state and public assistance.'
Based on all the above, the study's authors draw the following conclusion: 'To improve the integration of migrants living in Germany, urgent measures are needed, the key point of which should be the involvement of migrants in the education system, as well as facilitating their access to the labor market and obtaining a secure legal status, including German citizenship.'
As early as July 2007, Chancellor Angela Merkel presented the National Integration Plan for migrants living in the country. In 2008, the Federal Government Commissioner for Migration and Integration, Maria Böhmer, commenting on this plan, said in an interview: 'We must help migrants learn the language, improve the situation with higher education, vocational training, and the labor market – people must have access to these opportunities.'
Today it is 2012. And what has changed over the past five years? Apart from the fact that BIB scientists have derived the IMI index, probably nothing.
Sergei Debrer.
