This November, people will head to the polls to elect the next president of the United States of America. As in all elections all over the world, jobs and the economy will be foremost on a lot of voters minds as they decide how to cast their ballots.
Opinions may differ on how to drive the US economy forward in the 21st century as it emerges from the worst crisis since the Great Depression. But amid all the political posturing one thing remains clear - American workers have a lot to offer.
And so it should come as no surprise that many major German companies have chosen to set up shop in the United States. The Washington Post, for instance, recently ran a story on German engineering giant Siemens opening up a plant in Charlotte, North Carolina.
"A lot of things that were offshored in the past were offshored because of lower-cost labor, but that's no longer the most important factor," Eric Spiegel, president and chief executive of Siemens's US subsidiary, said as reported by Post reporter Lori Montgomery on September 4.
"The reasons you bring a plant like this to the United States are higher-skilled labor, access to the world’s best research and development, and good, sound infrastructure. All those things together make the US a good place to invest," he added.
The article goes on to point out that targeted investments in modern infrastructure (highways, airports, seaports), high-level academic research and "education programs tailored to turn out skilled workers" are at the top of the wish lists of companies seeking new locations to invest in.
German companies, in turn, are now bringing their own brand of effective on-the-job training to their operations in the United States, as a new Skills Initiative supported by the German Government and German Missions in the United States seeks to underscore.
Hailed as "a win-win idea" by German Ambassador Peter Ammon, it involves the German Embassy in Washington working with individual US states, German companies in the United States and education and training facilities to spread best practices in sustainable workforce development.
In today's globalized economy, promoting "a win-win idea" like the Skills Initiative makes sense as a roadmap for the future. Such efforts can clearly be fostered by effective regional public policies, as exemplified by the new Siemens plant in Charlotte or by Volkswagen's plant in Chattanooga.
Karen Carstens
Editor, The Week in Germany
Webteam Germany.info
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