Our jobs, your problem

Rarely has Europe seen such a sad May 1st. Close to 20% of people unemployed in Euroland, Spain and France hitting new lows. Germany alone has it better, daily ‘FAZ’ sees full employment coming up. But Germany is not in its own little paradise, its employment miracle could turn sour.

All of Europe is jealous of Germany, according to finance minister Schäuble and economy minister Rösler. All of Europe? No – a small country to the west is unhappy with the German employment miracle.

More and more jobs disappear in the Belgian automotive industry, because manufacturers are focussing on Europe’s biggest market and are closing down their plants in Belgium.

Very low wages in lower saxon slaughterhouses caused the Belgian government to complain with the European commission. Social affairs commissioner Andors wants Germany to introduce a general minimum wage.

This is not at all on the federal government’s mind. Although the extremely low wages are in violation of the European social charta, Berlin does not move. The current approach focusses on getting manpower from the countries currently in depression.

Rösler as well as employment minister Von Der Leyen are pushing programs to backfill open apprenticeship and skilled labour positions – providing German language classes to hold the foreign workers.

It seems obvious that this double pronged approach will cause trouble. Germany does not keep minimum labour standards itself, but wants to benefit of its neighbour countries’ economic hardships.

There may be a kind of full employment achievable in this way – some Germany regions are getting there already. But it doesn’t make Germany an isolated paradise. This kind of policy will ultimately have to backlash.

Is it acceptable that employment is for all Germans, and a few german speaking Greeks and Spaniards, but the remaining Europe is sinking into mass unemployment and poverty? And is it acceptable that Germany pushes austerity on the recession countries to raise competitiveness, but cherry picks workers from there?

If the EU were to accept this, it would lose it’s right to exist. Part of its mission is not just to level living conditions, but to provide employment. It’s about time Berlin remembers that…