The result is that when large scale infrastructure projects are undertaken, many of the skills have to be imported. Germany is one of the few developed countries to maintain a globally competitive manufacturing sector.
It has done this because it has been able to invest in capital to continuously raise productivity and because of its ability to produce a steady stream of competent and appropriately skilled young workers. Germany has used the furnace of an open economy to put pressure on both workers and firms to remain productive and remain at the cutting edge of technology.