Berlin regional labour market figures, state programmes and supplementary glossary

Berlin regional labour market figures (general, not migration-specific)

According to the press release of the Regionaldirektion Berlin-Brandenburg of the Bundesagentur für Arbeit (Federal Employment Agency) of 27.02.2026, the unemployment rate in Berlin in the reporting month of February 2026 was 10.6 % – an increase of 0.4 percentage points compared with the same month of the previous year. In December 2025, around 1,683,900 people in Berlin were in employment subject to social insurance, a decrease of 7,600 people compared with the previous year. These figures are general labour market figures for Berlin as a whole and say nothing about the share of internationally immigrated skilled workers.

On the question of the skills shortage specifically in Berlin, there is a figure from the IHK Berlin (Berlin Chamber of Industry and Commerce): according to the representative IHK early-summer business survey 2026 among 830 Berlin companies (press release of 02.06.2026), the skills shortage is losing importance as a business risk named by companies and is named by 39 % of the companies surveyed – a lower value than before the coronavirus pandemic. This figure refers to the generally perceived skills shortage from the companies' point of view, not to migration statistics.

The Bundesagentur für Arbeit's annual skills shortage analysis (Fachkräfteengpassanalyse) assesses around 1,200 occupational categories nationwide on the basis of six shortage indicators (including vacancy duration of open positions, occupation-specific unemployment rate, wage development); from a score of 2.0, an occupation counts as a shortage occupation. According to the Bundesagentur für Arbeit, results for the federal states are expressly published only at the coarser level of occupational groups, not at the level of individual occupations as in the federal result – an independent shortage occupation list relating to Berlin alone (separate from Brandenburg) could not be found in the available sources.

State programmes beyond mere contact points

The topic page "Advice and contact points" (Beratung und Anlaufstellen) lists contact points for individual advice. This page adds programmes in which the Land Berlin itself acts as provider or co-funder:

Business Immigration Service (BIS): a joint offer of the Landesamt für Einwanderung (State Office for Immigration), the IHK Berlin and the state-owned economic development company Berlin Partner für Wirtschaft und Technologie GmbH for companies based in Berlin that want to hire foreign employees. The BIS advises on residence law questions, processes applications for residence titles for employment purposes (including residence permit, EU Blue Card) as well as ICT Cards for intra-corporate transferees, and offers an accelerated skilled worker procedure. Registration is free of charge.

Berlin Partner – Talent Services: Berlin Partner für Wirtschaft und Technologie, the state-mandated economic development company of the Land Berlin, additionally supports companies with data on the availability of skilled workers, wages, qualifications and language skills, as well as with a dual career service for accompanying partners of strategically important employees.

IQ Netzwerk Berlin: the nationwide programme "Integration durch Qualifizierung (IQ)" (Integration through Qualification) – financed via the EU's European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) and supplementary federal or state funds – is coordinated in Berlin by the state network, which is assigned to the Senatsverwaltung für Integration, Arbeit und Soziales (Senate Department for Integration, Labour and Social Affairs). It offers free advice on recognition procedures, adaptation qualifications (partly AZAV-certified) and bridging measures for academic professions. No independently named state funding line specifically for language courses or the recognition of international skilled workers beyond this IQ co-financing was found (see Attention).

ESF+ Berlin: the European Social Fund Plus in the Land Berlin – administered via the Investitionsbank Berlin (IBB, Berlin's state development bank) – generally co-finances projects on education, qualification and securing skilled workers; it is not specifically tailored to internationally immigrated skilled workers, but to Berlin's working population as a whole.

Glossary: terms relating to residence titles and labour market access

The following terms supplement the basic glossary of the topic page "The Skilled Immigration Act at a glance" (already explained there: Chancenkarte/Opportunity Card, EU Blue Card, skilled worker residence permit, recognition partnership, Western Balkans regulation, Make it in Germany, Faire Integration – not defined again here).

Priority check (Vorrangprüfung) (§ 39 Abs. 2, Abs. 3 Nr. 3 AufenthG): examination by the Bundesagentur für Arbeit as to whether privileged workers are available for a position – German nationals, foreigners legally equal to them, or persons with an EU-law entitlement to priority access to the labour market – before a third-country national is admitted for the same position. Since 1 March 2020, the priority check for the admission of skilled workers has in principle been abolished; however, the law contains an authorization to issue an ordinance under which it can be reintroduced at short notice if the labour market situation deteriorates in certain occupations or regions. For individual case groups (including certain residence titles outside the actual skilled worker rules), it may still be required according to the available sources.

Shortage occupation (Engpassberuf / Mangelberuf): an occupation for which the Bundesagentur für Arbeit's annual skills shortage analysis determines a shortage score of at least 2.0 on the basis of six indicators (see above). Shortage occupation status is legally relevant, among other things, for the reduced salary threshold for the EU Blue Card (details and current euro amounts: topic page "Residence titles for work").

Beschäftigungsverordnung (BeschV, Employment Ordinance): a statutory ordinance of the Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales (Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs), issued on the basis of the authorization in § 42 AufenthG with the consent of the Bundesrat. It determines for which types of employment foreigners can be admitted to the labour market with or without the approval of the Bundesagentur für Arbeit, and under which conditions.

Exemption from approval (Zustimmungsfreiheit): cases in which a residence title for employment can be granted without the Bundesagentur für Arbeit having to approve it beforehand (§ 39 Abs. 2 AufenthG in conjunction with §§ 2 ff. BeschV) – for example for academic staff at universities and research institutions or visiting researchers (§ 5 BeschV). Exemption from approval must be distinguished from the priority check: even employment requiring approval (where the Bundesagentur für Arbeit must approve) has in most cases no longer required a priority check since 2020.

Residence permit vs. settlement permit (Aufenthaltserlaubnis vs. Niederlassungserlaubnis) (§ 7 and § 9 AufenthG respectively): the residence permit is a temporary residence title, usually tied to a purpose (§ 7 Abs. 1 Satz 1, Abs. 2 AufenthG) – for example for employment, studies or family reasons. The settlement permit, by contrast, is a permanent residence title that is in principle no longer tied to a purpose (§ 9 Abs. 1 AufenthG) and confers a right of permanent residence. The general requirements under § 9 Abs. 2 AufenthG include, among others, five years of holding a residence permit, secured means of subsistence and 60 months of compulsory or voluntary contributions to the statutory pension insurance; for certain skilled worker and self-employment titles, separate, partly shorter periods apply (see the respective topic pages, including "Self-employment and starting a business in Berlin").

Fictional certificate (Fiktionsbescheinigung) (§ 81 Abs. 5 AufenthG): a certificate on the effect of an application for the issuance or extension of a residence title that was submitted in good time. It is not itself a residence title but has only declaratory effect: the stay is already deemed permitted by law (Erlaubnisfiktion, deemed permission, § 81 Abs. 3 Satz 1 AufenthG) or the previous title is deemed to continue (Fortgeltungsfiktion, deemed continuation, § 81 Abs. 4 Satz 1 AufenthG), even without the certificate – in practice, however, it serves as proof towards employers, authorities or at border controls.

Skilled worker (Fachkraft) (§ 18 Abs. 3 AufenthG): the legal text distinguishes two categories. A skilled worker with vocational training is "anyone who holds a domestic qualified vocational training or a foreign professional qualification equivalent to a domestic qualified vocational training"; training is qualified if its duration under federal or state regulations is at least two years. A skilled worker with academic training is "anyone who holds a German, a recognized foreign or a foreign university degree comparable to a German university degree". In both cases, the foreign qualification must be recognized as equivalent.

Berufsqualifikationsfeststellungsgesetz (BQFG, Professional Qualifications Assessment Act): a federal law governing the assessment of the equivalence of professional qualifications acquired abroad with a domestic reference qualification, in order to enable employment appropriate to the qualification. Under § 2 Abs. 2 BQFG, the law applies to all persons who hold a foreign professional qualification and want to pursue a corresponding activity in Germany – without restriction by nationality; for regulated professions with their own chamber or state responsibility, separate specialist laws also apply (see topic page "Chambers and regulated professions in Berlin").

Data gaps

In summary, three named gaps still remain: first, no Berlin-specific labour migration statistics at federal, state or chamber level; second, no shortage occupation list relating to Berlin alone that goes beyond occupational groups; third, no independently named state funding line for language courses/recognition beyond IQ co-financing. All three are expressly named here as open rather than silently passed over.