VW drives up opportunities

Volkswagen has been inundated with applications for a scheme that gives young engineers from hard-hit Portugal and Spain two years of training and a chance of a permanent job.

The company says it had 1,800 applicants for 43 places in its “StartUp Europe” programme.

Both countries are suffering from the eurozone debt crisis. In Spain, the unemployment rate for under-25s is 52.7 per cent.

VW’s personnel chief, Horst Neumann, yesterday said that even with strong qualifications “many young people in southern Europe have problems entering a career in their home country”.

Related topics: