The EU wants Europe's biggest economy to avoid looming labour shortages in future by dismantling barriers to women entering the workforce.

'Germany must better integrate women into the labour market," said the EU Commission, in a report on the German economy.

'Germany, but also Austria and the Netherlands, should look at the example of the northern countries,” said President José Manuel Barroso, in a reference to Scandinavia.

'That means removing obstacles for women, older workers, foreigners and low-skilled job-seekers to get into the workforce. Excessive early retirement regulations need to be abolished.'

The Commission recommends that Germany take steps such as creating more child care places and reducing income tax for dual earners.

Taxing couples separately instead of as a pair could encourage more part-time, second-income earners to take up full-time work.

Just 2.2 percent of leadership positions at Germany's top 100 companies are held by women, according to a survey by the German Institute for Economic Research. But the conservative led coalition government of Chancellor Angela Merkel baulked earlier this year at legislation to even things up.

The EU's concerns about Germany come even though the country has embarked on a back-to-works scheme for women that the media has dubbed 'Operation Mama.'

To sustain both the economy and Germany's lavish welfare state, an action plan to call in mothers who have not worked before is on the table - along with plans to subsidise IVF treatment for childless couples.

Engineering, nursing, IT specialists, care-workers and semi-skilled workers are among those most needed according to a white paper prepared for Chancellor Merkel by eight ministries last month.

By turning inwards for help from its own population, Germany is effectively sending a signal to workers from eastern EU countries - allowed to work in Germany since 1 May this year after a German restrictions were lifted - that it would rather give jobs to Germans.

'Operation Mama,' as it has become known, is aimed first at close to 500,000 mothers with children aged between six and 16. Studies show they are eager to become workers if some practical child-care programme were in place.

(Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

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(Agencies)