> The million unchecked foreign men (and women) are presumably propping up the German economy as we speak.

The refugee crisis didn't appear to have a significant impact (positive or negative) on the labor market based on a recent study by the IZA and ZEW [0] - "Our estimates suggest that those migrants have not displaced native workers but have themselves struggled to find gainful employment. We find moderate increases in crime, and our analysis further indicates that while at the macro level increased migration was accompanied by increased support for anti-immigrant parties, exposure to asylum seekers at the micro level had a small negative effect." [0]

There are systemic issues with the German economy that aren't related to immigration. A lot of the current malaise can be attributed to the economic slowdowns in Russia (with the Russian Invasion of Ukraine) [1] and China (due to Zero COVID and the subsequent indigenization) [2], due to how tied German industry was with both markets [3].

[0] - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ecca.12420

[1] - https://dgap.org/en/research/publications/no-more-illusions-...

[2] - https://ecfr.eu/article/the-end-of-germanys-china-illusion/?...

[3] - https://www.elibrary.imf.org/view/journals/001/2024/130/arti...