More than half a million training contracts were signed in Germany last year, but 37,000 traineeships are still open, because there weren't enough applicants. It's a new record high.

German companies are finding it increasingly difficult to hire enough newcomers, while at the same time, there are more than 5 million unemployed young people in the EU. In Spain and Greece, every second young person is without a job. The costs for unemployment benefits and unpaid taxes are in the billions.

For years now, there have been attempts to bring many young jobless Europeans to Germany and get them working. It should be a win-win situation. But Karl-Thomas Neumann, chairman of GM subisdiary Opel and president of GM Europe, said that's not the case. "The current programs are not performing well. Too many people are quitting, and there are too few in permanent positions," he said. He described the attempt to bring talented workers to Germany as "not sustainably successful."

Supporting young people locally

One reason for that is because many people prefer to remain in their familiar environment, said Neumann, although he doesn't wish to equate this conclusion with an appeal against mobility. Rather, he is looking for promising alternatives to circumvent the problem. "We simply won't be able to have it so that everyone comes to Germany and works here," he said.

This past spring, he and other leading figures from German industry joined forces with several foundations to create the European InCharge initiative against youth unemployment. "I thought about what might have become of me if I had been unable to find a job when I finished my studies, if I'd had to move back in with my parents and could barely make ends meet," said Neumann. "I wouldn't be the person that I am today."

DW