ABSTRACT
In order to understand the problems of the second-generation migrants, it is necessary first to describe Germany’s migration policy during the last 25 years (see also Chapters 2 and 4), Because of the increasing demand for labor, German firms were forced to look abroad for unemployed or underemployed workers during the 1950s and the early 1960s. The result was an increase in in-migration of individual foreign workers from countries in which economic development was progressing more slowly. But the German federal government felt responsible for meeting German industry’s needs for a large pool of labor, and concluded, therefore, as early as 20 December 1955, an agreement with the Republic of Italy on the recruitment of Italian labor. The conclusion of this agreement was preceded by consultations among relevant German agencies, including representatives of the Federal Institute of Labor, the employers, and the trade unions. However, Greeks, Spaniards, Yugoslavs, Portuguese, and Turks were also working in Germany at this time, which led to additional agreements between the Federal Republic of Germany and Spain (1960), Greece (1960), Turkey (1961), and Portugal (1964). The last recruitment agreement was signed in 1968 by Germany and Yugoslavia.
