Leading companies in industrial strongholds such as Germany and the Netherlands — active in areas such as microchip manufacturing — are increasingly worried that anti-immigration policies could make it harder for them to hire the expat workers they need to fill their many boom-driven vacancies.
Microchip manufacturing, essential for producing everything from cars to smartphones, is poised for rapid expansion in the next few years, especially in already established hubs in Europe, like the greater Eindhoven region in the Netherlands or Dresden in eastern Germany.
Companies in the sector claim that Europe’s demographics and young people’s study preferences mean they can’t rely solely on homegrown talent to meet their employment needs.
And yet, some are already facing the prospect of new measures that would limit the perks they can offer foreign workers — or hawkish migration rhetoric that could easily spook them away entirely, handing a victory in the global war for talent to a rival.
Following a media report that right-wing extremists had been discussing plans that would deport millions of people from Germany, Jochen Hanebeck, CEO of chips manufacturer Infineon, spoke out on LinkedIn.
Italy’s move signals that — rhetoric aside — far-right leaders could yet land on the side of pragmatism when it comes to staffing in the bloc’s boomtowns.
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