Attracting skilled workers remains a key task for all economic development agencies, and each of the eastern German states has an agency dedicated specifically to this issue. In Thuringia, this is the Thuringian Agency for Skilled Worker Recruitment (ThAFF), which 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 will bring together representatives of the skilled worker initiatives as well as stakeholders from politics, business, and administration. "Our ThAFF initiated the collaboration between the initiatives in 2023, and I am pleased that this year's meeting will once again offer numerous opportunities for networking and knowledge transfer," says Sabine Wosche, Managing Director of LEG, where ThAFF is located. "These regular meetings serve, among other things, to develop cross-state project ideas and to raise awareness of the importance of securing skilled workers at the federal level."
The participating initiatives and institutions are:
- ZEFAS - Saxony
- FIF - Saxony-Anhalt
- WFBB - Brandenburg
- Ministry of Economic Affairs, Infrastructure, Tourism and Labour of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
- Thuringian Ministry of Labor
- ThAFF
At the beginning of the meeting, the initiatives will report on their current work. This will be followed by four workshops for intensive discussion of specific challenges in the field of skilled worker recruitment; the four workshop topics are:
- Attracting and retaining international skilled workers for rural areas
- Trainees win
- University graduates stay in the region
- Strengthening the attractiveness of employers
A subsequent panel discussion will feature a diverse group of participants, including representatives from the Federal Employment Agency, the AWO (Workers' Welfare Association) and the Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Southern Thuringia, who will discuss current challenges and perspectives of securing skilled workers.
All media professionals are cordially invited to attend the event.
- Location: Erfurt, COMCENTER Brühl, Mainzerhofstraße 10
- Time: Friday, November 7, 2025, 9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m
- Information about the event can be found at:
https://thaff-thueringen.de/veranstaltungen/treffen-der-fachkraefteinitiativen
