The increased need of the German army for new recruits makes businesses upset that their struggle to find staff will become even more difficult.
Corporate officials told the Financial Times that they had supported efforts to strengthen the military of Europe’s largest nation, as NATO is trying to strengthen its deterrence against Russia.
But they are concerned that returning to some form of recruitment – as well as urge to get more civilians to serve as reservists – will additionally tighten companies trying to recruit qualified workers in the narrow labor market.
“The security situation is dramatic,” said Stefen Campeter, director of the BDA, the country’s largest group of employers, adding that he welcomed efforts to strengthen the armed forces. But he warned that the military would compete with civilian demand for staff.
“Yes, we need more active soldiers,” he said. “Yes, we need to expand the reservist system. But only a strong economy can make it possible.”
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius plans to introduce a voluntary recruitment model, which will initially see about 5,000 18-year-olds preparing in the military every year.
But he also acknowledged that such a scheme is unlikely to fill the large gaps in the military, hovering the option to restore recruitment. By 2011, young people were forced to conduct a military service or a civilian alternative.
Pistorius, who is from the Social Democrats, did not say how a compulsory enrollment model should work. But he expressed support for the system in Sweden, where about 10 % of young people call each year after the screening process.
While employment is on record highs, Germany has the shortest average working time to every rich economy, according to OECD data.
The country’s new government, led by conservative Chancellor Friedrich Mertz, has promised to win the nation works more As part of the pressure to revive the weak economy.
Merz hopes that strengthening working hours will also help with acute skills deficiencies in sectors such as health, education and engineering industry.
Campeter said this effort would be even more important if the armed forces would add to workers. “If the necessary staff gets out of us, it means questions such as weekly working hours, the length of working life, better integration of part-time workers into the labor market-all of those topics are becoming even more important,” he said.
A representative of another business group, which demanded that their association not be named, said they had “many questions” to restore recruitment.
The person said there was “no doubt that something should be done” to recruit in the Bundeswehr, such as the German Armed Forces. But they added: “There are two opposing goals – economic prosperity and defense.”
A study last year at the Munich -based ICO Institute found that it was better to spend money on making a voluntary military service attractive, rather than resorting to recruitment.
The survey, commissioned by the German Ministry of Finance, warned that a compulsory model would bring high economic costs to the country, as well as taking individuals and their financial prospects by delaying their entry into study or work.
“Different people are good in different activities,” said Pano Puvatova, one of the authors. “If you have recruitment, which is not voluntary, it would force people who are not good at the military to serve in the military.”
The ICO Institute revealed that a well-paid voluntary model that convinced 5 % of Germany’s annual 18-year-old group to register-about 39,000 people-would cost the government 1.5 billion euros a year in salaries.
That would be more than twice the price of the compulsory recruitment model of the same size, which he assumed would offer a lower salary. But that would be offset by a lower hit to gross national income. The effect would be bigger if the government wanted to attract more recruits.
The military should extend to about 80,000 people over the next decade to fulfill Germany’s NATO obligations.
Senior military authorities say the size of the army’s reserves – made up of civilians working with the military a few weeks – should reach 200,000 in the coming years.
Mertz, who threw himself as a strong pro-business, urged the corporate world to make sacrifices to support this.
Jens Guenter and his interior-owned business Guenter-Inanusbau won the Defense Ministry award last year to allow one of their carpenters to serve 15-20 days a year as a reservist. He said it was a positive experience. “I want to make my role. I get a motivated employee who is slightly expanding his horizons and returning things to the company.”
But he said the company, which has about 20 employees, cannot handle it with more reservists. “If there were two or three, that wouldn’t be possible.”
Carlo Masala, a professor of international politics at the University of Bundeswehr Munich, said concerns about economic influence from returning to some form of recruitment is “overwhelmed”.
Even under a mandatory model, he said, he expected no more than about 25,000 young people to be called every year – much less than 200,000 recruits in West Germany at the height of the Cold War.
“My general feeling is that the German business community has realized that they should be involved in a positive way in the defense issue,” Masala said. “At the end of the day, they have to accept that.”
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