Encouraged the recruitment of foreign labour
From the early 1950s to the early 1970s, the then West German state actively
encouraged the recruitment of foreign labour, particularly in other European
countries with high unemployment, to live and work in Germany for a
temporary period.
This policy was reversed in 1973 to one of restriction, with
the general aim of reducing or at least containing the number of non-EU
citizens working in Germany. The restriction gave foreign workers already
resident a considerable inducement to remain if they possibly could, so the
foreign population tended to become permanently, rather than temporarily,
resident. Indeed, by now, at least half the foreigners living in Germany have
been here for more than ten years and many of the younger individuals are
second or third generation residents who have never lived anywhere else.
EU Forecast
euf:ba18e:8/nws-01