At the moment, quick help, accommodation and care for the thousands of refugees is still the priority. In Berlin, above all, an unbelievably large number of dedicated volunteers and a great willingness to donate ensure that all refugees arriving from Ukraine have been helped quickly. The Senate and the administrations are also slowly sorting themselves out. But what’s next? Looking at the pictures from Ukraine one has to assume that people will stay longer.
Federal Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil also expects this. “Our society, our country must remain generous in these times,” said the SPD politician a few days ago. The arriving people would have to be taken care of immediately. “But it will take longer, and that’s why it will also be about integration in this country,” said Heil. “It will be about opening up good access to the labor market.” He is committed to “that the people who come to us also have the opportunity, wherever possible, to take up work and to get proper health care”. , so Heil further.
Due to the decision of the European Union to recognize the people from Ukraine as war refugees – they are spared the asylum procedure with its conditions such as the ban on working – they have access to work, education, social services and medical care throughout Europe. Although the regulation has been decided, it has not yet been enacted into law. But she will come.
According to Herbert Brücker, the refugees do not pose a problem for the labor market. He is a professor of economics at the Humboldt University and head of the department for integration, migration and labor market research at the International Institute for Labor Market Research in Nuremberg. If it turns out that the refugees will remain in Germany for a longer or even long-term period, Brücker does not expect the mass exodus to have any major impact on the labor market. The number of refugees has so far been too small for this. He is certain that even if the number were to increase significantly, this would hardly affect the robust German labor market in a positive or negative way. “I also don’t believe that the Ukrainians will change anything about the shortage of skilled workers,” says Brücker. Nevertheless, he advises making preparations now to ensure that the integration is as successful as possible. If the situation in Ukraine is still marked by war and flight in six months, he advises giving people legal certainty for a longer period of time. “A provisional right of residence should then be extended to three years,” says the expert.
Childcare offers make it easier to find a job
At the moment, it is mainly mothers who are fleeing Ukraine with their children. When integrating those who have arrived, the special challenges for single mothers must be considered. You would have a hard time finding a job anyway. “Childcare offers can help,” says Brücker. In Germany, the recognition of foreign qualifications is possible, but there are still hurdles, explains the expert. If there is a lack of qualifications, he suggests further training that allows skilled workers to gain a foothold in their professions on the German labor market.
Frederic Seebohm from the Federal Association for Home Care and Care based in Berlin warns of the possible exploitation of Ukrainian women. He fears that they could now be employed at dumping wages instead of the caregivers from Poland and Romania who have been employed up to now. Seebohm also pleads for legal certainty, as promised in the traffic light coalition agreement. He proposes a law that creates a legal framework for freelance work in home care based on the French or even better Austrian model. “They could then be employed as employees subject to social security contributions,” says Seebohm.
The Berlin Senate is also trying to quickly find solutions for the arriving refugee children from the Ukraine in the field of education. According to the Senate Department for Education, there are currently 540 welcome classes for 6,000 schoolchildren in Berlin. “However, these classes are already quite busy, so that we are currently preparing to set up further welcome classes in coordination with the district school authorities,” said spokesman Martin Klesmann. Corresponding tenders for the staff already exist. Nevertheless, quite a few refugees would be able to be integrated directly into regular classes. The aim is also to integrate students from welcome classes as quickly as possible, at least partially, into regular classes, starting with subjects such as sports, art or music.
“The Berlin welcome class concept has proven its worth since 2015, but it would have to be adapted, for example to include the native language classes,” Klesmann continued. The school place capacities in a city that has recently grown strongly remain a challenge.
Districts review accommodations under 100 places
The long-term accommodation of the refugees will also be a challenge in Berlin and Brandenburg. “On the part of the districts there is a great willingness to provide support with accommodation and to maintain social ties in the medium term,” says Stefan Strauß, spokesman for Social Senator Katja Kipping (left). A procedure for the acquisition of accommodation has been discussed with the districts, according to which districts internally check offers for less than 100 places and then inform the crisis team of the result. This not only has the advantage of relieving the State Office for Refugee Affairs (LAF). According to Strauss, the social housing assistance would know locations, owners and operators and could assess them better than the LAF.
According to the Association of Berlin-Brandenburg Housing Companies (BBU), there is already “well-functioning cooperation” between the municipalities and the municipal and cooperative housing companies in the state of Brandenburg.
Housing companies lack a contact person
In Berlin, however, the situation is different, says BBU spokesman David Eberhart. The BBU received inquiries from the member companies about how they could help – combined with the offer to provide furnished guest apartments or apartments that were empty due to planned modernization work but were still habitable. “At the moment, however, we have no contact persons for such offers from the state or the information from the state that it is only interested in renting large, managed properties with more than 80 places,” said the BBU spokesman. However, the BBU member companies do not have such properties in their portfolios.
The Berlin housing market is still tense, says the BBU spokesman – “despite all willingness to help, it will therefore be difficult to provide the many people with a sufficient number of free apartments at short notice”. One possibility would be – insofar as this is compatible with the freedom of movement granted as a war refugee – “to advertise for a settlement in Brandenburg, for example, where there are many habitable, empty apartments”. “Here, accommodation could be much easier, at least in the short and medium term,” says Eberhart.