Angela Merkel welcomed refugees to Germany. They're starting to help the economy.

[BeckyDem]

By Griff Witte and
Luisa Beck
May 5 at 6:00 AM

GARBSEN, Germany — In his native Syria, Mohammed Kassim worked as an electrician. But having learned the trade informally, he lacked the credentials to show for it.

Now, in his adopted homeland, 30-year-old Kassim is receiving the training he never had. And he is getting paid to do it by a company dangling the promise of a job that could vault him from struggling refugee to member of the German middle class.

The program that is helping tens of thousands of refugees rebuild their lives was not created for the newcomers who have converged on Germany to escape war, oppression and poverty.

Instead, Germany’s apprenticeship system is a fixture of the economy with roots in medieval times. But with the national unemployment rate at a 30-year-low, young Germans have lost their appetite for vocational training. Companies face a shortage of skilled workers that could ultimately derail their growth.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/angela-merkel-welcomed-refugees-to-germany-theyre-starting-to-help-the-economy/2019/05/03/4bafa36e-6b60-11e9-bbe7-1c798fb80536_story.html?utm_term=.7651bd9e4dee