Minister of Economic Affairs and Labour Martin Dulig: “For small and medium-sized companies, the additional effort involved in recruiting skilled workers or trainees internationally is particularly difficult to shoulder. They often lack the experience. This is exactly where our new support program comes in. Small and medium-sized companies can apply for a grant for training or employment relationships quickly and with little bureaucratic effort. We want to help them to help themselves, as our funding enables smaller companies in particular to gain their first experience of a new international recruitment channel.”
It is not only companies in Saxony that face the challenge of attracting, training and retaining skilled workers and employees. Saxony needs immigration into the labor market, especially of skilled workers. Since June 1, the regulations on the opportunity card from the amended Skilled Immigration Act have come into force. This enables the qualified immigration of workers and skilled workers via many channels.
“A whole range of companies in Saxony have already recognized the opportunity this path offers for securing skilled workers. Companies and employee representatives recently emphasized at the Skilled Workers Summit that they would no longer want to do without their foreign colleagues. They are not only a great support professionally, but also a social and cultural enrichment for the workforce. However, experience with the new immigration channels in recent months has also highlighted the challenges of international recruitment. With our funding, we support SMEs quickly and unbureaucratically in recruiting international specialists and workers,” said Minister Dulig.
When developing the funding program, emphasis was placed on sustainable integration in addition to the greater effort required compared to finding and hiring domestic employees. Therefore, in addition to a good understanding of the language as a central basis for social integration, an existing six-month training or employment is a prerequisite for an application. Based on experience from the trial period, it can be assumed that the employer has developed a certain degree of loyalty and that the international has settled in well.
Allowing for available budget funds, up to three training and up to three employment relationships can be funded per company. The grants are staggered: For micro-enterprises with up to nine employees, the grant is the highest and amounts to 8,000 euros for the first application for an employment relationship (6,5000 euros for small and 5,000 euros for medium-sized companies). For a training relationship, micro-enterprises can receive 4,800 euros or, with a company-financed preparatory phase, 7,200 euros (small companies 3,900 or 5,850 euros and medium-sized companies 3,000 or 4,500 euros.)
Background
Application modalities and further information: https://www.sab.sachsen.de/beratungsförderung-internationals
Saxony has the highest employment rate in a state comparison (66.9 percent of residents aged between 15 and 65 are employed and subject to social insurance contributions). The number of people in employment rose again last month (by around 6,400 to more than 2.07 million).
The number of foreign employees is growing: 131,300 employees in Saxony are foreign nationals – that is around eight percent of all employees (national average 15 percent). The increase in employment in Saxony is almost exclusively due to foreign employees. The number of domestic employees increased only slightly by 0.2 percent in 2023, while the number of employees with foreign citizenship rose by a good eleven percent.
According to the State Statistical Office, more than 1.64 million employees subject to social security contributions work in the Free State of Saxony (as of June 2023). Based on retirement at the age of 65, around 366,000 employees (179,000 men and 187,000 women) or a good 22% of those currently working in Saxony (employees subject to social security contributions who are currently aged 56+) will give up this employment in the next ten years.
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Further links
👉 www.smwa.sachsen.de
👉 SAB – Sächsische Aufbaubank
👉 SAB: Advisory support – Internationals
Photo: pixabay
