Germany turns to India for skilled workers

Germany is in the throes of a demographic crisis, in which there are not enough young people entering the labour market to replace those who are retiring.

There is an annual net loss of 400,000 to the workforce and the shortage is particularly acute in many of the traditional craft industries.

One solution appears to lie overseas and in particular, India. We hear from young Indians who have signed up for apprenticeships in a range of industries in Germany’s south-west, close to the border with Switzerland.

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Presented and produced by Tim Mansel

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(Picture: Ajay Kumar Chandapaka, an apprentice mechanic from India at Dold Spedition, a haulage firm in Buchenbach in the Black Forest in Germany.)