The director of Germany's Federal Emplyoment Agency has said the country's economy can currently accommodate 350,000 migrants per year. His comments come as the coalition wrangles over proposed changes to asylum law.

Deutschland Detlef Scheele Vorstand Bundesagentur für Arbeit

According to Detlef Scheele, the executive director of the Federal Employment Agency, Germany's labor market has the capacity to absorb about 350,000 refugees per year, at least in "purely quantitative" terms "at the moment."

In Monday's edition of daily newspaper Die Welt, Scheele is quoted as saying that this would be possible based on the roughly 700,000 new jobs currently being created per year in Germany - where unemployment is at record lows while fertility rates remain sluggish. Scheele stressed, however, that his figure was based on the employment outlook.

"Whether our country can cope with this more generally, is another question. In any case, the labor market does have this capacity," he said.

Deutschland Jobcenter Arbeitslose stehen Schlange in Gelsenkirchen

Despite regional discrepancies, German overall employment has been booming of late

He also warned against expecting that refugees who have recently fled to Germany will swiftly plug high-skilled gaps in the country's labor market. "We assume that 10 percent of the refugees will be able to find a job after one year, 50 percent after five years, and 75 percent after 12 to 13 years," Scheele told the newspaper. He emphasized the importance of integrating refugee children and teenagers into the regular education system. If this works, he said that over time, it would contribute considerably to reducing higher skills shortages in Germany.