The recruitment of skilled workers remains an essential task for all economic development agencies, and in all eastern German federal states there is an agency specifically dedicated to this concern. In Thuringia, this is the Thuringian Agency For Skilled Worker Recruitment (ThAFF), and it is hosting this year's meeting of all five eastern German skilled worker initiatives. The event will take place on Friday, November 7, 2025, from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the COMCENTER Brühl (Erfurt). It brings together representatives of the skilled worker initiatives as well as stakeholders from politics, business, and administration. "Our ThAFF launched the collaboration of the initiatives in 2023, and I am pleased that this year's meeting again offers many opportunities for networking and knowledge transfer,“ says Sabine Wosche, Managing Director of LEG, where ThAFF is based. "The regular meetings serve, among other things, to develop cross-state project ideas and to make the importance of securing skilled workers visible at the federal level as well.“
The participating initiatives and institutions are:
- ZEFAS - Saxony
- FIF - Saxony-Anhalt
- WFBB - Brandenburg
- Ministry of Economics, Infrastructure, Tourism and Labor Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
- Thuringian Ministry of Labor
- ThAFF
At the beginning of the meeting, the initiatives report on their current work. Subsequently, four workshops serve for intensive discussion on specific challenges in the field of skilled worker recruitment; the four workshop topics are:
- Attracting and retaining international skilled workers for rural areas
- Winning trainees
- Retaining university graduates in the region
- Strengthening employer attractiveness
A subsequent panel discussion will feature a diverse group of participants, including representatives from the Federal Employment Agency, the AWO, and the IHK Südthüringen, discussing current challenges and perspectives of securing skilled workers.
All media professionals are cordially invited to participate in the event.
- Location: Erfurt, COMCENTER Brühl, Mainzerhofstraße 10
- Time: Friday, November 7, 2025, 9:30 AM - 5:00 PM
- Information about the event at:
https://thaff-thueringen.de/veranstaltungen/treffen-der-fachkraefteinitiativen
