Flocking to the fatherland

With unemployment for young people in Spain at over 50%, it is no wonder that they are looking elsewhere to find work. The scarcity of skilled workers in Germany is drawing many from southern Europe there at the rate of 80,000 per year. In the boom years it was the other way round, Germans were flocking to Spain to enjoy the wealth of jobs in construction.

The young Spaniards might find employment in Germany but it does come at a price, the first of which is the climate. Those used to living in the sun find the cold winters hard to endure. They also face hostility from some Germans who regard them as parasites who only there because of the problems that Spain has brought upon itself. Germans are not best known for their hospitality and do not have the same sense of family as Spaniards. This is why up to 70%, who move to Germany, often return a year or so later.