Germany is increasingly turning to countries like Morocco to help address a severe shortage of qualified health and social care workers, particularly in elderly care facilities, through a range of projects and recruitment initiatives.
As part of an effort led by the local branch of Caritas, a Catholic relief organization, in the Rhein-Sieg region, the third group of Moroccan nurses and social care workers is currently undergoing training in several nursing homes and hospitals.
“The number of applicants for elderly care and hospital jobs has dropped significantly over the years, some years we barely received any applications,” said Dennis Bonke, director of Haus Elisabeth, a senior care home, in comments to local media.
“Now, the situation has changed. We currently have several trainees across two Caritas-run care homes in Niederkassel and Hennef, 18 of whom have come from Morocco as part of a special partnership.”
Caritas is collaborating with German language schools in Morocco and conducted in-person interviews there in early 2023. The first batch of Moroccan trainees arrived in Germany that same year, and the third cohort began its training four months ago.
One Moroccan nurse participating in the program told German media that job prospects in Morocco’s nursing sector are limited and the pay is significantly lower. “In Morocco, a nurse earns around 500 to 600 euros per month,” he said.
“Through the Caritas program, trainees in their first year can earn around 3,550 euros per month, and during the training period, they receive between 1,524 and 1,687 euros monthly.”
A study by the Leibniz Institute for Economic Research found that Germany’s critical shortage of care workers has resulted in elderly patients staying in hospitals up to 40% longer. Many nursing homes are reportedly unable to admit new patients due to staffing shortfalls that prevent them from meeting the legal minimum number of personnel.
In a previous interview with a German magazine, Susanne Baumgart, director of the Goethe Institute in Rabat, noted that many young Moroccans are increasingly interested in migrating to Germany for work. “Labor migration is a long-standing tradition in Morocco,” she said. “Remittances from Moroccans abroad represent about 8.3% of the country’s GDP.”
Baumgart added that Germany and Morocco signed a labor agreement 55 years ago to bring workers into Germany’s metal industry. “What’s new now is the expansion into sectors such as hospitality and health care,” she said.
Although Morocco faces a domestic shortage of doctors and specialized nurses, particularly as the country builds new hospitals, the high unemployment rate among graduates means international training and work opportunities are still widely welcomed, Baumgart noted.
According to Germany’s Federal Employment Agency, the country’s aging population has placed increasing pressure on its healthcare system.
Vanessa Ahuja, a board member responsible for international affairs at the agency, said, “The sector might have collapsed without foreign nurses. Nearly a quarter of workers in elderly care homes do not hold German citizenship.”
Last year alone, 13,000 new healthcare professionals arrived in Germany under the Skilled Immigration Act. The agency also reported a decline in health workers coming from the European Economic Area and Switzerland, prompting employers to look for skilled personnel outside the EU.
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