>Foreign workers delivered half of the bloc’s jobs growth since 2022, but populist backlash could shut the door on future gains, ECB chief said.
>The European Union's economy would have looked far weaker after the pandemic without foreign workers, European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde said Saturday, warning policymakers not to ignore migration’s role even as it fuels political tensions.
>Speaking at the U.S. Federal Reserve’s annual symposium in Wyoming, Lagarde said an influx of foreign labor helped the eurozone absorb successive shocks like soaring energy costs and record inflation, while keeping growth and jobs intact. Employment in the bloc expanded by 4.1 percent between late 2021 and mid-2025, nearly matching gains in gross domestic product (GDP), she noted.
>“Although they represented only around 9 percent of the total labor force in 2022, foreign workers have accounted for half of its growth over the past three years,” Lagarde told the gathering of central bankers. Without that contribution, she added, “labor market conditions could be tighter and output lower.”
>Lagarde singled out Germany and Spain as examples. Germany’s GDP would be about 6 percent lower today without migrant labor, while Spain’s strong recovery also “owes much” to foreign workers, she said. Across the eurozone, employment has expanded by more than 4 percent since 2021, even as central bankers pushed through the steepest rate hikes in a generation.
>The ECB president argued that migration has played a crucial role in offsetting Europe’s shrinking birth rate and growing appetite for shorter working hours. That, she said, helped companies expand output and damped inflationary pressures even as wages lagged behind prices.
>But Lagarde also acknowledged the politics. Net immigration pushed the EU’s population to a record 450 million last year, even as governments from Berlin to Rome move to restrict new arrivals under pressure from voters flocking to far-right parties.
>“Migration could, in principle, play a crucial role in easing labor shortages as native populations age,” Lagarde said. “But political economy pressures may increasingly limit inflows.”
>She stressed that Europe’s labor market has emerged from recent shocks in “unexpectedly good shape.” But she cautioned against assuming that dynamic will last: demographic decline, political backlash and shifting worker preferences still threaten the eurozone’s resilience.https://www.politico.eu/article/europes-economy-cant-grow-without-migrants-lagarde-warns/
>On 5 July 2011, she was elected to replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn as managing director of the IMF for a five-year term.[3][4][5] Her appointment was the 11th consecutive appointment of a European to head the IMF.[6] She was selected by consensus for a second five-year term, starting 5 July 2016, being the only candidate nominated for the post.[7] In December 2016, a French court convicted her of negligence relating to her role in the Bernard Tapie arbitration,[8] but did not impose a penalty. Lagarde resigned from the IMF following her nomination as president of the ECB.
>In 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, and 2024, Forbes ranked her number two on its World's 100 Most Powerful Women list.[9][10][11][12] Unique IPs: 9