Need a Job? Demand for German-Speaking Professionals is Strong and Growing

The Boston Globe reported in March 2017 that “online job listings for” professionals who know German “increased by 160 percent between 2010 and 2015.” Strong trade patterns are fueling a demand for workers who are proficient in German.

Both imports and exports with Austria, Switzerland, and other German-speaking countries are large and growing. In fact, the Globe’s 160 percent figure might be on the low side. The statistic included a variety of “bilingual workers,” but notes that the demand for “German skills” is “showing the largest rise.”

The report summarizes a study released by an organization called New American Economy.

The demand for German proficiency is found across various sectors of the economy: management, accounting, marketing, life sciences, engineering, and various research and development functions. The study notes that “pharmaceutical and electronics companies that have a strong presence in Europe drove the demand for German.”

In addition to imports and exports, there are a variety of joint ventures, American firms with office in Switzerland and Austria, as well as German-speaking firms with offices in the United States.

Was Essen die Deutschen?Wo Essen die Deutschen?Wie Essen die Deutschen?

On average, Germans go grocery shopping more often than Americans. On a shopping trip, a typical German might shop at several different stores. While Americans tend to get most or all of their items at a single large supermarket, Germans are more likely to stop at several specialty stores.

Naturally, there are exceptions to these averages on both sides of the Atlantic.

Stops on a shopping trip might include a Bäckerei, for both Brot und Brötchen; a Markt, a large outdoor area where local farmers bring their fruits and vegetables to sell; Metzger or Fleischer, two different words for ‘butcher’; and a Supermarkt for a few canned items.

Germans shop frequently because they want their Brot und Brötchen to be frisch. A German Bäckerei can have up to two hundred different types of Brot!

A typical German Kühlschrank tends to be smaller than an American one, because Germans don’t want to keep food around too long: it won’t be frisch then.

In a Metzgerei oder Fleischerei, there is Rindfleisch, Schweinefleisch, und Huhn. Sometimes there’s also Ziegenfleisch, Enten, und Gänse. There are more than 1,500 different types of Wurst in Germany.

Zum Frühstück Germans often have Brot oder Brötchen with Käse, Butter, Wurst, oder Marmelade, and eine Tasse Kaffee oder eine Tasse Tee.

If you’re not at home, there are several words which describe a place to eat: Restaurant, Gaststätte, Gaststube, or Lokal. Ein Imbiss is a fast-food place. If you want to eat outdoors, look for a Gartenlokal or a Biergarten.

Ein Gasthof is a hotel, but it will usually have a restaurant in it as well.

In American restaurants, the waiter or waitress will usually set glasses of water on the table at the beginning of the meal. This is done automatically, without the customer’s request. The water is free: there is no charge for it.

In a German restaurant, water is not automatically set on the table. The customer must request it, and will pay for it. If you order Wasser, you’ll be given Mineralwasser in a bottle, not from the faucet.

German restaurants include a tip or gratuity in the bill, so there is no need to leave a significant tip for the Kellner oder Kellnerin. Most customers simply round up the total to the nearest Euro and so give a small tip.

During the meal, Germans usually hold forks in their left hands and knives in their right hands. Cloth napkins are a bit more popular in Germany than in the United States.

Outside the restaurant, near the door, a Speisekarte is usually posted, so that you can read about which types of food are offered, and how much things cost there.

In many German towns, there is a traditional restaurant located underneath the city hall, called a Ratskeller.

If you don’t want a full meal, but rather only ein Stück Kuchen und eine Tasse Kaffee, you can go to a Café or to a Konditorei.

Telefonnummer und Adresse

If you’re making a phone call in Deutschland, you’ll need to know not only the person’s Telefonnummer, but also her or his Vorwahl - the area code.

In the United States, an area code always has three digits: 734 is the area code for Ann Arbor, Michigan; 402 for Leigh, Nebraska; 812 for Mifflin, Indiana.

In Deutschland a Vorwahl can have different amounts of digits. For Berlin, the Vorwahl is 030; for Bebenhausen, it’s 07071; for Liebstadt, it’s 035025. A Vorwahl always begins with null.

A Telefonnummer in Deutschland can have as few as three or as many as eight digits.

In Österreich, the Vorwahl can have from one to four digits, and also begins with null.

In der Schweiz, most area codes are three digits and begin with null. There are a few longer area codes reserved for special telecommunication services, not for regular phone numbers.

In all of these cases, however, the null is omitted when dialing into the country from another country.

Telephone etiquette, while variable and changing, often dictates that the person receiving the call answer either by stating her or his name, or by saying the phone number receiving the call. This confirms to the caller that the correct number has been reached.

Let’s change topics from phone numbers to address.

If you’re looking at a written address in Österreich, in Deutschland, oder in der Schweiz, note that the building number is after the street name: Uhland-Str. 24 or Kirch-Str. 7. In the United States, the number is before the street name: 2727 Fuller Road or 1928 Packard Street.

In the United States, a ZIP (“Zoning Improvement Plan”) code is five digits, sometimes extended with an optional four-digit suffix.

In Österreich und in der Schweiz, the Postleitzahl (PLZ) is four digits; in Deutschland it’s five.

When reading or writing an address, note that the Postleitzahl is written before the name of the town or city. (In the United States, the ZIP code appears after the city and state).

Written addresses in Deutschland do not contain the name of the Bundesland, and in der Schweiz addresses don’t contain the name of the Kanton. Likewise, in Österreich, the Bundesland does not appear in the written address.

Reviving Germany after the War: the Economics of Freedom

At the end of WW2, Germany was a devastated nation. The physical infrastructure was nearly nonexistent; the population lacked the millions who died during the war; the economy was barely functioning, and what little function it mustered was shackled by rigid regulations - regulations originally imposed by the Nazis and bizarrely kept in place by the victorious western Allies.

When the Allies began to turn over control of West Germany to the civilian government, debate arose among the Germans about the best way to revive the economy.

The Social Democratic Party (SPD) wanted to keep in place the wage controls, price controls, and high taxes imposed by the Nazis. They feared that deregulation would kill the tiny amount of economic activity which still took place.

By contrast, the Freiburger Schule (a group of economists known as the ‘Freiburg School’) favored deregulation. The Freiburg School had formed in opposition to the Nazis during the late 1930s. They saw a connection between personal political liberty and the free market.

This debate between the SPD and the Freiburg School occurred during Germany’s Stunde Null - the ‘zero hour,’ a historical reset as the nation restarted itself. Thomas Hazlett writes:

There wasn’t much in the program of the Social Democrats that the Freiburg School found to agree with. During the dark days of the Hitler epoch, a liberal resistance movement had developed at the University of Freiburg. Under the leadership of Walter Euken, it included Alfred Muller-Armack. Wilhelm Roepke and Ludwig Erhard. These men constructed one of the most comprehensive political-economic doctrines of this century: the Soziale Marktwirtschaft. The idea of a “socially conscious free market,” as the translation goes, was that totalitarianism is the evil to be most guarded against and that the only way to prevent tyranny is to promote freedom. The theory spread freedom across political and economic lines and espoused a policy of noncontrol - by either the State or individuals - of individual choice. The conclusion was that free markets, and only free markets, can provide human society with the incentives, efficiencies, and freedoms that can lead to a vital and progressive society.

The Freiburg School won the debate. Konrad Adenauer, elected in 1949, appointed Ludwig Erhard to deal with economic matters. Deregulation and tax cuts followed.

The free market approach energized the German economy. In 1945, many observers feared that Germany would permanently be relegated to a ‘third world’ status. By the late 1950s, Germany was one of the most powerful economies in the world, and the economic leader of Europe.

Historians use the word Wirtschaftswunder to describe this amazing recovery: an ‘economic miracle.’ But it was no miracle: it was the predictable and replicable results of the Freiburg School’s free market idea.

Leading from a Position of Economic Strength

During the first two decades of the twenty-first century, Germany has emerged into a pivotal diplomatic role in the world. Why this premiere?

At a time when the EU and the United States were wrestling with massive national debt and crippling trade deficits, Germany had worked to balance its budget, and enjoyed strong manufacturing and exporting sectors.

Other nations began to look to Germany, and to its chancellor Angela Merkel, because it was one nation which seemed stable while others were floundering. Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Ireland became symbols for the EU’s economic woes.

The United States expanded its national debt in the years after 2008, hobbling its opportunities to provide prosperity for its own citizens or leadership for other nations. Germany’s foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, writes:

Some politicians, such as the former Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski, have described Germany as Europe’s “indispensable nation.” Germany has not aspired to this status. But circumstances have forced it into a central role. Perhaps no other European nation’s fate is so closely connected to the existence and success of the EU. For the first time in its history, Germany is living in peace and friendship with France, Poland, and the rest of the continent.

Germany’s leadership in the EU, and in the world, shows the way for other nations to move toward fiscal responsibility. Balancing national budgets is one step. Austerity – the word itself has become a political symbol – in social spending is another step.

To the extent that other nations can adopt German national virtues – industriousness, diligence, punctuality, craftsmanship, thrift – to this extent they will enjoy prosperity and stability they are so eager to mimic.

The Euro Crisis: German Leadership

When an economic crisis emerged in the European Union (EU) during the first decade or two of the twenty-first century, the EU was unable to exert itself to address the situation.

The EU had spent much of its energy and political capital in an effort to admit and absorb new member states. It had needed to persuade the existing member states to accept the new members; it needed to organize the new members for the EU structure.

The existing member states were somewhat skeptical of the new members, yet the EU was simultaneously attempting to persuade the existing member states to increase their commitment, involvement, and integration into the EU.

In 2005, member states chose not to ratify a proposed EU constitution. This decision took some momentum away from the EU’s political progress. It also become more clear that some of member states were economically incompetent.

The fiscal weakness, and deceptiveness used in attempts to disguise that weakness, threatened the stability of the EU as a trading bloc, and threatened the stability of the euro as a currency.

Greece became the symbol for the crisis, although several other member states had also been irresponsible. Greece had continued unsustainable programs, like nationwide single-payer universal healthcare, which created a large national debt.

With the EU itself lacking political momentum and diplomatic capital, member states looked to other sources for leadership during the crisis. They looked to Germany, and to Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel.

Germany’s foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, writes:

During the euro crisis, meanwhile, Germany was forced to confront the danger posed by the excessive debt levels of some Mediterranean EU states. The overwhelming majority of the eurozone’s members and the International Monetary Fund supported plans to demand that countries such as Greece impose budgetary controls and hard but unavoidable economic and social reforms to ensure the eventual convergence of the economies of the eurozone.

Why did Germany emerge, reluctantly and even unwillingly, as a world leader in this situation? Because Germany had proven its ability to manage its own economy.

Many ‘first world’ or ‘industrialized’ nations had lost ground in trade wars. Some east Asian nations gained ground by violating intellectual property rights, by inhumane ‘sweatshop’ labor practices, and by ‘dumping’ and ‘flooding’ markets with low-priced products – selling products below cost in order to drive competitors out of the market.

In these circumstances, Germany had found a way to continue a significant and strong manufacturing sector, and to make money by selling its products, in both domestic markets and in export markets:

Germany has merely held its ground better than most of its peers in the face of rising competition.

The other member states of the EU naturally turned to Germany for leadership, because Germany had shown that it was able to keep a healthy manufacturing sector, both in the face of the trend toward an ‘information economy,’ and in the face of fierce Asian competition.

Germany Takes the Lead

During the first two decades of the twenty-first century, Germany has played an increasingly central role in the world, both economically and diplomatically. One reason for this emergence is that both the United States and the European Union have faced challenges which have depleted their political capital.

The United States had spent its resources dealing with increased threats from the Muslim world, and, after 2009, an increasingly aggressive Putin in Russia. Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea also absorbed American attention.

The EU encountered the challenges of absorbing a few – perhaps a few too many – new members states into its economic community, while attempting to encourage its existing members to deepen their commitments to the EU. Voters in EU member states rejected a proposed EU constitution in 2005, while newer member states gradually manifested symptoms of economic incompetence.

With both the United States and the EU otherwise engaged, the nations of the world looked to Germany, and to its chancellor Angela Merkel, for leadership. German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier writes:

Against this backdrop, Germany has remained remarkably stable. This is no small achievement, considering the country’s position in 2003, when the troubles of the United States and the EU were just beginning. At the time, many called Germany “the sick man of Europe.”

In this condition, Germany was an unlikely candidate for leadership. Steinmeier notes that “unemployment had peaked at above 12 percent, the economy had stagnated, social systems were overburdened,” and the German government had shown a too-lenient policy toward Putin’s Russia. The German federal court system later found that Germany had lost 1.2 billion euros, as the German government and the Russian government had not equally shared the burdens of projects undertaken in allegedly ‘equal’ partnership.

Within a remarkably short time, Germany turned itself around. The election of Angel Merkel as chancellor in late 2005, combined with a series of legislative reforms designed to trim back a too-generous set of government ‘handout’ social programs, allowed Germany to show its strength.

Those reforms laid the foundation for Germany’s return to economic strength, a strength that has lasted to the present day. And Germany’s reaction to the 2008 financial crisis only bolstered its economic position. German businesses focused on their advantages in manufacturing and were quick to exploit the huge opportunities in emerging markets, especially China. German workers wisely supported the model of export-led growth.

Germany’s quick climb to the top is reminiscent of an earlier such ascent. In the mid-1940s, at the end of WW2, Germany was so economically devastated that many observers thought that it would be permanently relegated to a ‘third world’ status.

Yet within a decade, Germany had rebounded so quickly that it was known as the Wirtschaftswunder – the ‘economic miracle.’

The first two decades of the twenty-first century may one day be known as a ‘miniature’ version of that Wirtschaftswunder. Whether or not that happens, Germany has in any case provided needed leadership for the EU during times of economic and diplomatic turmoil.

The next challenge for the EU, and for the world, is to manage the danger coming from the Islamic world. The EU faces desperate refugees seeking humanitarian aid and fleeing from violence in Muslim countries.

But hidden among those displaced persons are also violent jihadi extremists. The EU must find a way to distinguish between the innocent refugees and the Islamic extremists: a way to help the former and shut out the latter.

For this next great task, the EU, the United States, and Germany – the entire world, really, – will need courage, creativity, and leadership.