ABSTRACT

Arising from the lack of workers in German eldercare homes, governmental projects for recruiting nurses from China, Vietnam, and the Philippines have been launched. This chapter analyses the public discourse on this labor migration that represents Germany as a global actor facilitating development projects for ‘poor countries.’ However, these workers, who are often academically trained, are overqualified for the German vocational care system. Subjectificating workers through the orientalizing image of a specific Asian culture of respect and devotion for the elderly, recruited workers are expected to perform high-quality care despite poor working conditions. The commodification of ethnicity as a specific skill for ‘basic care’ allows recruited workers to be de-skilled into the lowest positions of German care homes.