ABSTRACT
The Federal Republic of Germany is the largest national economy in the European Union (EU). At the end of 2014, it had 81.2 million inhabitants and a competitive labour market characterised by a strong demand for qualified labour (rising percentage of persons in employment: 43.47 million in 10/2015, and a historically low unemployment rate of 4.4 percent in 10/2015). Growth rates stood at 1.6 percent and inflation at 0.9 percent in 2014 (Statistisches Bundesamt, 2016).
