Berlin, May 31 (Bloomberg) -- Germany's cabinet approved
plans to allow as many as 20,000 foreign workers into the country
to help fill vacancies at computer and telecommunications firms,
paving the way for the regulations to take effect Aug. 1.
Foreign technology workers offered a yearly salary of at
least 100,000 deutsche marks ($47,600) will be entitled to a five-
year residence permit, said German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
Permits may be extended beyond five years if necessary, Schroeder
said.
``We must make sure that in these times of globalization we
don't suffer from a lack of cosmopolitanism,'' Schroeder told
reporters in Berlin. ``There's a huge amount of international
competition for the best people and Germany would be making a big
mistake if it didn't take part.''
Even with an unemployment rate of 9.6 percent, Germany has an
estimated 75,000 technology vacancies, reflecting the failure of
the education system to keep pace with Germany's fast-expanding
technology industry. Companies like International Business
Machines Corp., the world's biggest computer company, complain of
a ``critical shortage'' of IT specialists.
``Thousands of job openings in the IT sector and related
fields cannot be filled,'' said Erwin Staudt, the chief executive
of IBM Germany GmbH. He said the shortage is ``one of the main
obstacles to economic growth in Germany.''
Technology companies already employs more than 1.7 million
people and Schroeder announced plans in March to allow non-
European Union workers into the country, many of whom the
government expects to come from India and Eastern Europe.
Computer and telecommunications companies have made 11,000
jobs and 1,350 training positions available and so far 5,700 e-
mail applications have come in from abroad, the Labor Ministry
said. About 1,200 of those came from India, 500 from Algeria, 400
from Pakistan, 350 from Bulgaria and 300 from Russia.
``This will benefit everyone,'' said German Labor Minister
Walter Riester. ``Foreign employees can find challenging, well-
paid jobs and Germans will benefit as the initiative will create
new jobs and train more IT-specialists in Germany.''
The government's plans, which need approval from the
Bundesrat, the upper house of parliament where Germany's 16 states
are represented, will also allow foreign students studying in
Germany to work in the country after their courses end, the Labor
Ministry said.
