The new gastarbeiter system in Germany.

Abstract

"Germany's new gastarbeiter policy is evaluated in the context of a long tradition of labour recruitment, particularly the last period of active recruitment abroad (1955-1973). The policy's characteristic features (of permission to stay being dependent on a work permit; this being limited to a certain period and linked to the requirements of a specific employer) [imply] that the gastarbeiter regime is a low cost means of increasing flexibility in cases of regional and/or sectoral bottlenecks in the employment system as well as a way of ¿exporting' problems.... The mounting employment crisis in Germany has prompted the German government repeatedly to take advantage of provisions to restrict the conventions on labour movement."