Additional 20 training places at Porsche Leipzig plantGerman Economy Minister Clement: "Unemployment cannot be solved by politics alone"
Stuttgart/Leipzig. Porsche Leipzig GmbH will increase the number of its training places from 21 to 41 at the beginning of the new training year in September 2005. This was announced by Harro Harmel, the member of the Board of Management responsible for Personnel at Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, on the occasion of the visit today by the German Economy Minister Wolfgang Clement to the Porsche plant in Leipzig. "In taking this measure, we are living up to our social responsibility and helping to combat the high levels of youth unemployment in the new German Federal States," Harmel said in the presence of the Minister.
Originally, in addition to 16 trainees already contracted at the Leipzig plant, five young people were to be trained in motor vehicle mechatronics in the new training year. With the increase in training places to a total of 41 announced today, Porsche wishes to support the "TeamArbeit für Deutschland" ("TeamWork for Germany") initiative launched by Minister Clement. "The most important thing young people need for a successful professional life is solid training. To make this possible, we will also extend the training workshop and employ another trainer," announced Harmel.
In future, Porsche Leipzig's training quota will be more than ten percent – more than twice as high as the automotive industry average.
German Economy Minister Wolfgang Clement expressed his hope that the example set by the sports car manufacturer would show people that: "Unemployment is the greatest problem facing Germany today, and cannot be solved by politics alone. Companies therefore need to show courage and creativity in finding ways to create more training places," the Minister appealed to other companies. Before opening the 19th Day for More Work and Training at the Neues Rathaus in Leipzig, the Minister visited Deutsche Telekom AG and RT Reprotechnik.de GmbH, two other companies in Leipzig that are making more training places available.
The Porsche plant in Leipzig was set up as the production location for the Cayenne all terrain sports vehicle and started production in August 2002. Around 40,000 Cayennes left the production halls in the past financial year (August 1, 2003 to July 31, 2004). In addition, around 500 of the Company's high performance Carrera GT sports cars, which boast 612 HP and a maximum speed of 330 km/h, are manufactured every year in the Leipzig plant. Porsche Leipzig currently employs around 400 staff. Further 400 jobs were created by suppliers who located to the area around the Porsche plant.
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04.05.2005