It could also turn to other places in Europe for them. But that's the thing, isn't it, this isn't really about a shortage of workers, it's about not wanting to pay them more.
this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2026
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There’s a demographic crisis in every EU country. There’s a shortage of people across Europe. So Germany can’t just attract other EU citizens and drain the other member states of their population.
The "crisis", is that they all want cheaper workers, not that their particular workers aren't cheaper than their neighbors. It's a race to the bottom. If there's a shortage of workers, their wages rise, and people are interested in their jobs but then they would have to cut the profits.
Germany can and has attracted other EU citizens. They want cheaper. Butchers' shop and "critical skilled" are oxymorons. The Indians coming into Germany are working for the big shops and factories, not opening their own. It is a shift towards a migrant laborer based economies while those that own the actual assets get rich for relatively little effort, like with housing and the shift from owning to renting. The gap just keeps getting bigger.
The fact that Germany has attracted people from other EU countries in the past does not mean it will be able to do so forever.
The problem of underpaid labor can be solved by increasing oversight of businesses and punishing employers who exploit these people, because the crime is exploitation, not accepting appalling working conditions because one has no other choice.
In Italy, there are many Indians who own their own businesses, such as electronics stores or restaurants—to name the most common ones. It seems strange to me that in Germany they are only employees and not business owners.
A shortage of workers, or a shortage of willingness to pay local workers fair wages?
Both. There is a shortage of children as Germany's fertility rate is below replacement for a long time now, and the kids they do have study for a high wage job.
Please send some of those jobs to Finland!