Studio guest: Thomas Straubhaar from the Hamburg WeltWirtschaftsInstitut

DW-TV: For more we're joined by Thomas Straubhaar from the Hamburg Institute of International Economics. Would you say times have changed drastically since you entered the job market? Thomas Straubhaar: Yes but there were always cycles. It's always something like a cobweb. Sometimes it goes better. Sometimes it goes worse. We are definitely in the worst recession we have had since World War II. So it has become more difficult to enter the labour market. DW-TV: We've just listened to the students there in this report. How do you evaluate the situation for German students. Is it hard, is it good. Is it hopeless? Thomas Straubhaar: No. It's definitely still good. It's not hopeless. I would say the recession now covers all the issues. They are well qualified. They are motivated. They are mobile. They are flexible. They have attributes that are needed to enter the labour market sooner or later. What they probably should do is not become nervous that it won't be the start they had thought about. They must be more open to other solutions. DW-TV: For a long time, entering the engineering sector, studying to become an engineer seemed to be a safe bet. That's changing now. What would you say are the "future" degree programs? Thomas Straubhaar: I would still say that whoever is still about to do a job in let's say the machinery sector, in the industrial sector still has a good chance to become a good employee sooner or later somewhere in the German industrial sector. So I wouldn't be too precise on what's going on. The future is so open that you cannot be sure that what you have chosen today you can't execute tomorrow. DW-TV: Thank you for the moment. We'll continue our talk. (Interview: Monika Jones)

DW-World | July 14, 2009

Tags:. .needed. .interview. .cobweb. .machinery. .drastically