+OK 3162 octets Received: from smtp06.nwnexus.com (smtp06.nwnexus.com [206.63.63.45]) by mail3.halcyon.com (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id OAA10879 for ; Wed, 6 Oct 1999 14:16:38 -0700 (PDT) Received: from chrome.dreamscape.com (chrome.dreamscape.com [206.64.128.4]) by smtp06.nwnexus.com (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id OAA07253 for ; Wed, 6 Oct 1999 14:16:24 -0700 (PDT) Received: from europa.dreamscape.com (mail.dreamscape.com [206.64.128.147]) by chrome.dreamscape.com (8.9.1/8.9.1) with ESMTP id RAA04180; Wed, 6 Oct 1999 17:14:46 -0400 (EDT) X-Dreamscape-Track-Chrome-A: mail.dreamscape.com [206.64.128.147] X-Dreamscape-Track-Chrome-B: Wed, 6 Oct 1999 17:14:46 -0400 (EDT) Received: from oemcomputer ([216.42.110.59]) by europa.dreamscape.com (8.8.5/8.8.4) with ESMTP id QAA15564; Wed, 6 Oct 1999 16:59:58 -0400 (EDT) X-Dreamscape-Track-A: [216.42.110.59] X-Dreamscape-Track-B: Wed, 6 Oct 1999 16:59:58 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <4.2.0.58.19991006105818.00947f00@mail.sg23.com> X-Sender: fredb001@mail.dreamscape.com X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 4.2.0.58 Date: Wed, 06 Oct 1999 10:59:07 -0400 To: 71524.2205@compuserve.com From: "ray dickerson" (by way of Fred Battey ) Subject: Germany STW Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Status: Inge and I just returned from twenty-four days in Germany and France. We found the exchange rate favorable and had a great time. We rented a car at the Frankfurt airport and simply toured, enjoying the sites and pleasures of Europe. This is not something I would recommend unless there has been some recent driving experience in Europe. I did want to share something I saw on German television. It was a magazine show type discussion between the German minister of labor and various other heads of unions and educational agencies. It seems they are having trouble with their apprentice programs and STW. Germany has an official 17% unemployment rate in the old DDR and an 8% rate in the old GDR. Combined rate is about 12%. However, they have 60,000 unfilled high-tech jobs, and about 90,000 young people who have completed apprenticeships in dead-end skills for which there are no jobs. Much of this is because the gilds simply won't change or give up any control over training programs, and there are no "Meisters" or teachers for the fast moving high-tech industry. Without Meisters there can be no training programs. This has forced the high tech "runners" to import labor from other countries, mainly India, England, and to some degree Turkey, where education is not yet regulated to the degree that it is in Germany. This sudden appearance of high earning foreigners in the country has given rise to more angst about foreigners. I write this as our community is just establishing workforce boards and working on job training standards, etc. in an effort to establish what is now a millstone in Germany. We are a country slowly being strangled by regulation. Ray .