In view of an increasing number of job vacancies and demographic trends in Germany, bottlenecks in the training and labour market will continue to worsen (Kubis, 2023). Politically controlled labour migration from third countries therefore opens up opportunities to meet the future demand for skilled workers (SVR, 2022). Such challenges do not appear to be new; foreign labour was already being recruited in Germany in the 1960s (Oltmer, 2012). This article focuses on the topics of migration, labour market integration and the role of VET in this context. It aims to systematically analyse two central "immigration phases" in Germany, their political control and the associated effects on the labour market and the VET system. In the first phase of immigration, around 14 million labour migrants came to Germany between 1955 and 1973. Bilateral agreements formed the central basis, regulating the conditions for recruitment, temporary employment relationships and the return of so-called guest workers to their home country. Politically, the aim was not to achieve permanent labour market migration and social integration. The lack of an integration strategy and the failure to promote vocational training for guest workers led in the long term to the emergence of an underclass that was economically, culturally and linguistically segregated (Höhne et al., 2014). A total of 3 million immigrants remained in Germany permanently with their families. In comparison, the second immigration phase, during the period of the refugee crisis from 2015 to 2019, was not characterised by any significant long-term recruitment of skilled workers. Labour market integration remained largely unrealised, not least due to a lack of skills relevant to the labour market and asylum law conditions (Brücker et al., 2015). Both educational and labour market policy measures as well as civil society integration concepts were primarily aimed at refugee children and young people as well as adults with the prospect of staying (Baethge & Seeber, 2016; Krings, 2020). With regard to these phases, a restrictive migration policy can be assumed. With respect to the current challenges on the labour market, there is now a noticeable trend towards the employment of workers from the EU and the easing of immigration criteria for highly qualified skilled workers from third countries. At the same time, vocational training and accompanying integration policy measures are increasingly being implemented (Werding & Lembcke, 2023). This article presents these in more detail and discusses them against the background of historical experience.

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