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One nation's woes can be another's gain
Source: Agencies |
November 14, 2011, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
PROSPEROUS Germany has a surprising message for sinking Greece: Help Wanted.
With a shrinking labor force and buoyant economy, Germany desperately needs skilled workers to keep its industrial engine churning forward. Increasingly, it's seeking them from Greece and other European laggards like Spain and Portugal where unemployment is soaring amid fears of financial implosion.
Germany quickly overcame the financial meltdown that started in 2008 and unemployment is now at a 20-year low of 6.6 percent. Companies are so desperate to fill skilled labor shortages that the government has tried to match make between German firms and job seekers from crisis-hit countries.
Greek civil engineer Christos Kotanidis moved to Erlangen in southern Germany three months ago and quickly found work with industrial giant Siemens.
The 33-year-old's former company in Saloniki put him on part-time earlier this year because, struck by the financial crisis, it could no longer afford to pay full salaries. It took Kotanidis only six weeks to land a full-time position in Germany.
"I decided to look for a job in Germany because it has a stable economy," Kotanidis said. "In Greece the economic situation is bad now, but the future looks even worse."
Unemployment in Greece is at 16.7 percent, but among young people it is even higher with more than 42 percent of people under 24 not finding any work. In Spain, overall unemployment hovers at 20 percent, and over 45 percent of people under the age of 25 are without a job. Portugal, Italy and Ireland, the other countries bearing the brunt of the debt crisis, also have bleak employment pictures.
There are no hard numbers on how many professionals from Europe's crisis zone have been hired in Germany. Immigration to Germany has shot up by 13 percent in the past five years, and more than half of the newcomers are from within the European Union. EU citizens do not need to apply for a visa or work permit if they take a job within the bloc.
With a shrinking labor force and buoyant economy, Germany desperately needs skilled workers to keep its industrial engine churning forward. Increasingly, it's seeking them from Greece and other European laggards like Spain and Portugal where unemployment is soaring amid fears of financial implosion.
Germany quickly overcame the financial meltdown that started in 2008 and unemployment is now at a 20-year low of 6.6 percent. Companies are so desperate to fill skilled labor shortages that the government has tried to match make between German firms and job seekers from crisis-hit countries.
Greek civil engineer Christos Kotanidis moved to Erlangen in southern Germany three months ago and quickly found work with industrial giant Siemens.
The 33-year-old's former company in Saloniki put him on part-time earlier this year because, struck by the financial crisis, it could no longer afford to pay full salaries. It took Kotanidis only six weeks to land a full-time position in Germany.
"I decided to look for a job in Germany because it has a stable economy," Kotanidis said. "In Greece the economic situation is bad now, but the future looks even worse."
Unemployment in Greece is at 16.7 percent, but among young people it is even higher with more than 42 percent of people under 24 not finding any work. In Spain, overall unemployment hovers at 20 percent, and over 45 percent of people under the age of 25 are without a job. Portugal, Italy and Ireland, the other countries bearing the brunt of the debt crisis, also have bleak employment pictures.
There are no hard numbers on how many professionals from Europe's crisis zone have been hired in Germany. Immigration to Germany has shot up by 13 percent in the past five years, and more than half of the newcomers are from within the European Union. EU citizens do not need to apply for a visa or work permit if they take a job within the bloc.
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