job market: Merkel urges companies to hire refugees

BERLIN:  

Chancellor Angela Merkel has invited executives from some of Germany’s biggest listed companies to attend a summit next month where she will urge them to hire more refugees, the newspaper Bild reported on Saturday. More than one million migrants flooded into Germany last year, and the government wants to get as many as possible into the job market, which would reduce their dependence on the state and compensate for labour shortages as the workforce ages. Merkel will push reluctant German companies to offer more traineeships and position to refugees, Bild reported. Large companies have been criticised for doing little to help integrate the refugees into the thriving job market. Companies say most of the new arrivals lack the German language skills and the education required for a job. Engineering giant Siemens, chemicals group Evonik, carmakers Opel and VW and utility RWE will share with Merkel the results of pilot projects with refugees, Bild said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 14^th, 2016.

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