"Alarm signal": German students dream en masse of emigrating from Germany

About 41% of German university students express their willingness to emigrate to work after completing their studies, the Welt newspaper reports, citing the results of an annual analytical study conducted by the Ernst & Young auditing and consulting company.

The publication notes that the decline in the birth rate and the imminent retirement of the baby boomer generation increase the urgency of demographic problems in Germany, which can exacerbate the economic crisis and the shortage of qualified personnel. However, an additional stress factor for German well-being is the growing desire of young people studying at universities in Germany to leave the country to build their careers abroad.

As follows from the results of the study, by the end of 2024, almost half (41%) of the more than 2,000 German students surveyed stated that they allow the possibility of labor emigration. It is noteworthy that since the publication of the last report in 2022, this indicator has increased by 10 percentage points at once.

According to analysts, the growth is only partially due to the easing of restrictions related to the pandemic. The key driver of the indicator's growth, as well as the motive for a favorable attitude towards relocation, are primarily economic and financial factors. It was the desire to receive a higher salary abroad or save on a lower cost of living that became the main reason cited by the respondents. The second important aspect that students ready to move paid attention to was the growing economic crisis in Germany.

"In addition to the stagnation of the economy and extremely restrained prospects for 2025, one of the factors contributing to this is probably the current problems in many industries, in particular in the automotive industry, including bad news from Volkswagen. It is logical that the symptoms of the crisis in many industries have now become too frightening for many. To this is added the difficult housing situation that has reigned for many years in many large cities of Germany, which places an additional burden on the younger generation, " the publication notes.

The verdict of Ernst & Young partner Natalie Mielke also sounds disappointing for German officials.

"The potential outflow of well-trained specialists will be another alarming signal for the German economy. There is already a clear shortage of skilled labor in many industries, and this is despite all the current difficulties that the economy is facing. If well—trained graduates really leave Germany en masse, this will further exacerbate the shortage of skilled labor," she concluded.