German labour minister says 266,000 Ukrainian refugees now have jobs

Ukrainians who fled to Germany since the 2022 Russian invasion of their country have hit their stride in the job market after a slow start, according to Labour Minister Hubertus Heil.

In September alone, 8,500 Ukrainian nationals took up employment in the primary labour market, training or self-employment, according to Heil. This is more than twice as many as in September 2023.

“These figures show that Job Turbo is clearly working,” the minister underlined, referring to an initiative aimed at integrating refugees into the labour market.

Despite the difficult economic environment, around 266,000 of the 700,000 Ukrainians of working age who came to Germany were working in July 2024, some 213,000 of whom were subject to social security contributions.

Of those now working, 53,000 had found small part-time jobs, despite difficulties adapting to their new environment.

According to Federal Employment Agency head Andrea Nahles, the labour market is currently not very receptive to Ukrainians.

Nevertheless, the trend is heading in the right direction, Nahles said. One obstacle, however, continues to be the confusion over authorization procedures for the recognition of professional qualifications in Germany.

In addition to problems with the recognition of professional qualifications, language is currently a limiting factor in the placement process.

However, Nahles said that programmes are already under way, for example, for language acquisition on the job, i.e. after starting work.