'Operation Mama' aims to get women into work

GERMANY is planning a back-to-work scheme to bring millions of mothers and retirees back into industry and trade as the country's economy continues to power ahead.

A looming shortage in skilled workers has sent alarm bells ringing in Berlin, which wants to avert a possible slowdown in the boom.

Close to seven million fewer people will be available to work in just 14 years' time because of ageing and a declining birthrate.

To sustain both the economy and Germany's lavish welfare state, an action plan to call in mothers who have not worked before is on the table - along with plans to subsidise IVF treatment for childless couples.

Engineering, nursing, IT specialists, care-workers and semi-skilled workers are among those most needed according to a white paper prepared for Chancellor Angela Merkel by eight ministries.

By turning inwards for help from its own population, Germany is effectively sending a signal to workers from eastern EU countries - allowed to work in Germany since 1 May this year after a German restrictions were lifted - that it would rather give jobs to Germans.

The paper states: "Women and older workers represent a significant potential which could be quickly mobilised.

"An estimated 1.2 million professionals could be tempted back to the workplace if the options to combine child care and work were improved."

"Operation Mama," as it has become known, is aimed first at close to 500,000 mothers with children aged between six and 16. Studies show they are eager to become workers if some practical child-care programme were in place.

"These mothers are, for the most part, highly educated and motivated," saysthe 27-page report.

Germany is also focusing on the elderly. BMW recently opened a factory in Bavaria tailored to the older employee, with special non-slip floors, better lighting, tools designed for hands that have lost their strength and so on. The raising of the statutory retirement age from 65 to 67 will boost the numbers of workers by a million by 2025. Only 56 per cent of over-55s currently work, and the goal is to increase that to 70 per cent.

In tandem with both schemes is a plan to reduce the number of students who drop out of their course, currently running at 7 per cent. The goal is to halve it, thus adding 300,000-plus professional-level workers to the job market.

The working paper will be laid before the German cabinet next week and is expected to be voted on soon. Sums in the hundreds of millions of euros are being talked about in terms of subsidies for working mums to get them into the workplace.

"If companies need employees to work longer, they must do more to retain them and keep them productive on the job," said Michael Stolpe from the Kiel Institute for World Economy.