By Maria Teresa Rojas, Alyssa Ross, Devex Impact
The scale of the current Syrian refugee crisis has generated significant involvement from private actors, including corporations and individuals.
In Germany, where an aging population has resulted in more than half a million unfilled jobs, corporations have called for an overhaul of laws to allow asylum-seekers to enter the labor force more quickly. Last September, Germany’s four main employers’ associations, which represent hundreds of thousands of companies, requested that the country give approved asylum-seekers faster access to the labor market, as well as to language and skills training. German companies have also developed business to business networks to facilitate the hiring and training of refugees.
In Europe, a number of corporations have been hiring refugees as paid interns. These include Deutsche Telekom, Evonik, Bosch Group, Uniqlo and Siemens. Other companies have focused on improving access to education for young refugees.