© dpa
The Berlin Senate has announced a strategy to secure skilled labour in the capital.
"The process should start after the summer break and be completed by 2025," said Senator Cansel Kiziltepe (SPD) after a meeting of the Senate. The aim is to create a good framework for meeting the demand for skilled labour in the future.
For the Senate, securing skilled labour is a top issue that is becoming increasingly important. Kiziltepe warned that real bottlenecks were looming in numerous sectors, from care to civil engineering. Among other things, a working group on the topic is planned, in which all Senate administrations should participate if possible. There will also be a three-part series of workshops to clarify the objectives of the strategy and the question of which measures can be used to achieve them.
Representatives from business organisations and trade unions will also take part. "All groups involved will be heard in the process," Kiziltepe promised. The Institute for Social Research and Social Policy will support the process in terms of organisation and content. It is necessary to take stock of the measures taken so far. This should also include a review of their strengths and weaknesses and where there are duplicate structures - in other words, where the same topic is being worked on unnecessarily in different places.
In the senator's view, there is a need for action in the area of vocational training - the governing parties have already agreed that the number of training places should increase by at least 2,000 by the end of April 2025, otherwise it is planned to introduce a training levy. Another area Kiziltepe mentioned was integrating refugees better and faster into the labour market and, in this context, speeding up the recognition of foreign professional qualifications, for example.