Studio Guest – Gerhard Bosch, Institute for Work and Qualification
- 00:02:19
- DW-World
Studio Guest – Gerhard Bosch, Institute for Work and Qualification
This week's studio guest is Gerhard Bosch, of the Institute for Work and Qualification, at the University of Duisburg-Essen. MADE IN GERMANY talks with him about the new labour market figures. DW-TV: Big question: why aren't more Germans going into business for themselves? Gerhard Bosch: I don't see any decline in the entrepreneurial spirit in Germany. Getting self employed was often a second best solution for people in the economic crisis and they didn't earn much money and now if employment prospects are better they try to find a good job in a company. DW-TV: Let's take a look at the labor market figures that have come out this week. We see unemployment fell again in March and there were more jobs created compared to February. So why are more and more people finding jobs? Gerhard Bosch: Because the German export industry is booming. We are producing machine tools, other investment goods and we profit very much from the industrialisation of Eastern and Central Europe as well as India and Asia, so it's especially the innovative products which keep the German economy running. DW-TV: You're talking about these emerging markets, we see a lot of growth potential there but what about the risk? These emerging markets are also affected by the global finance crisis. Are we going to see any effects on the labor market here? Gerhard Bosch: Not in the short term because the export goods for this year are mostly ordered but in the long run it is true the increase in the value of the euro is a risk and a drop in demand in these countries. So we expect employment growth this year, but not next year. DW-TV: What about these large corporations? A lot of them say they still have plans to make some lay-offs. I think the latest figure is forty thousand this year. Are you concerned about that? Do you think that could grow as we go into 2009? Gerhard Bosch: I am concerned but I must say some are taking on staff like VW but most of them are outsourcing. So jobs are not disappearing but they are outsourced to smaller companies with lower wages as a means of cost-cutting. (Interview: Brent Goff)
DW-World | April 1, 2008
