Migration, Integration and Skills Shortages (November 2022)

The study on migration, integration and the shortage of skilled workers was conducted by the Forschungsgruppe Wahlen Telefonfeld on behalf of the Press and Information Office of the German Federal Government. During the survey period from November 9 to 23, 2022, eligible voters were asked in telephone interviews (CATI) about the following topics: attitudes of the population on the topics of flight, immigration and integration, as well as on ways to combat the shortage of skilled workers, e.g., by recruiting skilled workers from abroad. The survey also looks at the assessment of current political projects (including acceleration of asylum procedures, easier family reunification, reform of citizenship law). Respondents were selected using a multi-stage random sample according to the RDD method, including landline and mobile phone numbers (dual-frame sample). In the west, 1,019 citizens were interviewed, in the east 485 citizens. After adjustment for the over-quota in the east, the aggregation of these 1,504 respondents results in 1,246 interviews: 1,019 from the west and 227 from the east. The survey is representative of the German-speaking population aged 18 and over.<br>1. Immigrants/ foreigners in Germany: assessment of coexistence between Germans and immigrants (split: foreigners) living here; agreement with statements on the subject of immigration to Germany (integration of immigrants (split: of foreigners) into German society has so far been successful all in all, there are already so many immigrants (split: foreigners) living in Germany that no further immigrants (split: foreigners) can be accepted, without immigration the population in Germany would age too much, politics has recently been too concerned about immigrants (split: foreigners) and not enough about the German population, immigration has more advantages than disadvantages for the development of the economy in Germany, due to immigration (split: foreigners) the crime rate in Germany increases very much, I think it is good that Germany becomes more culturally diverse due to immigration (split: foreigners)); reasons for immigration to Germany (e.g. war in home country, no perspective in home country; etc.); assessment of integration of foreigners living in Germany. ); assessment of integration of foreigners living in Germany; sufficient commitment of various actors (foreigners, German population, federal government) to integration of foreigners; perception of equal opportunities for foreigners in various areas (school and educational attainment, search for a job and training position, search for housing); immigration of foreign workers only if they have sufficient knowledge of German; satisfaction with the federal government´s immigration policy in various areas (dealing with the population´s concerns about immigration, how the goals and measures of immigration policy are explained to the population, efforts to date to integrate immigrants into the German labor market, efforts to date to find a European solution for immigration to Europe); evaluation of various political projects of the federal government on the topic of immigration (accelerated asylum procedures, easier family reunification, easier access to German citizenship).

2. Shortage of skilled workers in Germany: perception of the shortage of skilled workers in Germany as a problem; combating the shortage of skilled workers primarily a task for companies or for politicians; is the German government doing too much or too little to combat the shortage of skilled workers; importance of various measures to combat the shortage of skilled workers (qualifying people living in Germany, recruiting skilled workers from other European countries, recruiting skilled workers from non-European countries); contribution of refugees to addressing the shortage of skilled workers.

3. Refugees in Germany: Germany´s ability to take in even more refugees; expectation of further larger waves of refugees coming to Germany; accommodation of refugees in one´s own neighborhood; personal experience with refugees in one´s own neighborhood; is too much or too little being done for refugees in Germany; opinion on preferential treatment of refugees from Ukraine compared to other refugees; assessment of the will to integrate or the desire of refugees from Ukraine and Syria to stay.

4. Party preference; subjective personal preference or disadvantage in society.

Demography: sex; age; highest school-leaving qualification; intended school-leaving qualification; completed studies; occupation; occupational status; employee/civil servant grouping; household size; number of persons in household aged 18 and over; migration background: German citizenship; German citizenship by birth; born in Germany; previous citizenship; at least one parent born as a foreigner or immigrated.

Additionally coded were: respondent ID; city size; federal state; district of Berlin West/East; survey by mobile phone or landline; weighting factor.