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Thread: French-German Border Shapes More Than Territory

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[quote=XIAOBAIHE,460738]His French colleague, Roxane Pierrel, who runs the employment office in Sélestat, smiles politely. She points out that the French have more children than the Germans and more women are in the work force, which swells the numbers looking for work. But she acknowledges that the Germans are doing better at job training for young people, especially with a nationwide apprenticeship system that Mr. Sarkozy wants to introduce more widely in France. “The systems may be different,” she said. “But all the enterprises on both sides of the border are looking for competence.”

Many labor experts single out the German apprenticeship system as a major competitive advantage. It takes young people out of the university track at 16 and trains them in industrial skills, as they simultaneously study for a technical degree and work for a salary. They often get full-time jobs with companies that have invested in training.

Unlike in the rest of France, there is a vestigial apprenticeship system in Alsace, which was at different times a part of Germany. But it is closer to a French “alternance” model of vocational training, which also combines education and work, but is less widespread among companies and less popular.

Many French parents and their children still regard a vocational degree or apprenticeship — instead of a university degree — as a sign of stupidity or failure, Ms. Pierrel said. “We have to convince young people, since it’s not well accepted in the family,” she said. In France, “it means being a bad student. In Germany, it doesn’t devalue someone.”

But she is beginning to see a change, she said. “Companies here are working with schools to promote apprenticeships,” and more young people see the advantage of a salary at a decent job as preferable to unemployment.

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