According to new statistics, over half a million asylum seekers now receive some kind of welfare benefit from the German state. In neighbouring Austria, the migrant unemployment rate is now over 20 per cent.

The numbers come from the German Federal Agency for Employment (BA) are were announced earlier this week. The statistics come as many still worry about the ability of the over one million migrants who came to Germany during the migrant crisis to integrate into the German job market, T-Online reports.

Minister of Labour Andrea Nahles, of the German Social Democrats (SPD), said, “this is not a sprint but a run,” indicating it would require far more time for migrants to secure stable employment. She added she was “confident” but “not relaxed” about the programme.

Institute for Labour Research (IAB) researcher Herbert Brücker claims whilst the education level of many of the migrants is better than the average in their home countries, it does not compare to the average German. He added that migrants are undereducated in comparison.

The IAB claimed last December a mere three per cent of migrants who arrived in the country recently had managed to find work. The group said: “It would be an illusion to believe we will manage to find jobs for a decent proportion of refugees in well-paid industry jobs like car manufacturing.”

The former head of the BA, Frank-Jürgen Weise, has also warned that the recently arrived migrants from Africa and the Middle East will not help Germany’s problem of a shortage of skilled workers.

For German publicly traded businesses, the situation is even more pronounced as only 54 individuals have managed to score jobs with top firms in Germany.

In neighbouring Austria, who also took in a large share of migrants during the migrant crisis, the migrant unemployment problem is also on the rise. A new report from the Public Employment Service Austria (AMS) shows that over the past year migrant unemployment has gone up 23.2 per cent.

AMS CEO Johannes Kopf blamed the long asylum procedure times, which can last up to two years, and noted the poor educational background of many of the migrants and how their qualifications, if any, could become obsolete over the course of the asylum process.

According to AMS, Afghan nationals tend to be the least educated migrants, making them more likely to be stuck in menial labour jobs.

The total number of unemployed migrants in Austria currently stands at 28,925. Of that, the vast majority, or 18,036, live in the Austrian capital of Vienna.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson@breitbart.com