Study finds foreigners 'indispensable' for eastern German economy

Foreign workers are an indispensable pillar of the economy in eastern Germany, according to a study released ahead of elections in three eastern states.

"In 2023, around 403,000 people who do not have a German passport were working in the five eastern German states, around 173,000 more than five years earlier," says the study, published on Sunday by the Institute of German Business (IW).

They alone generated €24.6 billion that corresponds to 5.8% of gross value added in eastern Germany. The study concludes that foreign employees are therefore "indispensable for the east: between 2018 and 2023, the number of German employees shrank by 116,000."

Eastern Germany does not have the best reputation when it comes to welcoming foreigners, the IW notes ahead of the elections in three eastern German states, highlighting the current popularity of the far-right AfD there. Thuringia and Saxony vote on September 1, Brandenburg votes on September 22.

"The AfD is working tirelessly on migrants and is enjoying good poll ratings - while many migrants are worried. Yet it is precisely foreigners who support the East German economy," says the institute.

Without newly arrived foreigners, the economy there would have declined noticeably in the view of the IW, instead it has grown. "Saxony in particular benefited from this, with foreigners generating around €7.9 billion. Brandenburg, with a significantly smaller overall economy, recorded €6.8 billion and Thuringia €3.9 billion."

The IW says people from Poland and the Czech Republic in particular have moved to the former east in the past five years, but also from Romania and Ukraine. They mainly work in the construction industry, but also in the transport sector and via temporary employment agencies in Germany.

"Foreign employees support the East German economy," says study author Wido Geis-Thöne, "which makes it all the more important that the region remains open to the world - because this is the only way the East will remain economically successful."