We’ll talk to Michael Vassiliadis about the dearth of qualified new trainees and skilled workers in German companies.DW-TV: Returning now to Michael Vassiliades Chairman of the Industrial Union of Mining, Chemical and Energy. How do you remember your trainee days? Michael Vassiliades: I started out in the 1980s. In that time there were a lot of apprenticeships, so there was no problem for a young person to get into their chosen field. A bit later, in the mid-80s, it changed. For a long time it was difficult to provide jobs for all the young people in Germany. Now we have another problem - the demographic change that's also coming through. Now we have a situation where we have the necessary education programs, but we don't have enough skilled people. We have to bring them together, so it's a special situation at the moment. DW-TV: It's tricky. The demographic factor of course means that there aren't enough young people coming in any more and now we also hear that their education isn't good enough. In East-Germany, almost 12 percent of today's youngsters drop out of school without final exams - in the West it's almost 7 percent. What's wrong with these kids? Michael Vassiliades: It's a scandal. It's a scandal if you compare it to Scandinavian countries. You can see that Germany doesn't do enough for the education system to bring them to the necessary skill levels. On the other hand, the job skills necessary are becoming increasingly difficult. So there is a gap. We have to invest more in young people. For example we have made a contract with our employees which means that we set up one year of education for students that come out of school and enable them reach the necessary skill levels. They go through their apprenticeships with an average success rate of 86 percent. DW-TV: What else is necessary. When you look around we live in a globalized world. In other countries, especially in emerging economies like India, you constantly hear how important a good education...