Increased immigration is widely seen as one way of helping to maintain a steady labor supply. German business organizations see immigration also as a source of specialized skills and training. If Germany is to be competitive in fields like telecommunications, information services, electronic engineering and biotechnology, the argument goes, it has to draw on an international pool of talent. Against this background, the German government appointed a commission in the summer of 2000 to propose changes in the country's migration policies. The commission is expected to put forward its recommendations in mid-2001.
Immigration is a decisive variable in demographic and economic forecasting.
The Federal Statistical Bureau reported in 2000, for example, that Germany's population will likely drop from its current level of 82 million residents to somewhere between 65 and 70 million residents by 2050. The bureau's figure of 70 million residents assumes net annual immigration of 200,000 people, and even that influx is not expected to offset an increase in the ratio of retirees to workers paying into the country's pension system. As more Germans head into retirement in coming decades, German employers could find it increasingly difficult to fill job vacancies. Taking in 140,000 immigrants annually for the next fifteen years will assure Germany a steady labor supply until 2020 but will not, according to DIW's calculations, be sufficient to offset a rapid decrease in the number of potential workers in the following decades . Assuming that the retirement age is not raised, according to DIW, Germany will need net annual immigration of at least 600,000 people if a sharp drop in the size of the work force is to be averted after 2020.