Welcome to the fatherland

It might be nice for beer-guzzling, a lederhosen-clad holiday, but nobody wants to come to Germany to work. At least, that's what recent research published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development appears to indicate.

- CATHRIN SCHAER

The OECD research looks at how attractive its 38 member countries are for skilled workers, academics, students and entrepreneurs. Over the past four years, Germany has slipped from 12th to 15th place. You may know this already, given Kiwis' penchant for over-enthusiastically celebrating even the tiniest international success, but New Zealand did far better. It was right at the top of the OECD list in almost all categories. People want to work in New Zealand.

All this is bad news for the Germans. Employment researchers estimate that in just over a decade, Germany will be missing around 7 million skilled staff. They say the country needs about 400,000 skilled immigrants every year to make up the shortfall. Only about 60,000 are coming at the moment.