German Ambassador to the Philippines, Christian- Ludwig Weber-Lortsch clears that as far as he knows, German shipping firms are still hiring and training people. He noted that the job market in Germany is still open for Filipino workers contrary to the news that the country had stop recruiting foreign workers due to financial crisis.

Weber-Lortsch also said that he is not aware of any lay-offs for foreign workers especially for Filipinos in Germany.

In fact, German-Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industries (GPCCI) president Klaus Schroeder said that jobs of OFWs are assured after the crisis.

On the other hand, the German-Philippine relations in local business are also improving which also affect the employment for local workers in the country.

However, Schroeder says that with regards to investments global crisis has not spared bilateral German-Philippine trade. In 2008 exports from the Philippines decreased by 5.9 percent, while imports to the Philippines decreased by 2.5 percent.

“The decrease was mainly due to the strong negative effects which the global economic crises had on the electronic and semiconductor industry as well as the effects on the garment and furniture industries,” he said.

But the good news is that the declined in the first half of 2009 is now improving.

Schroeder said that electronic products are responsible for more than 50 percent of all German imports from the Philippines and for around 25 percent of all German exports to the Philippines. “The recovery of the electronic and semiconductor industry will certainly have a positive effect on the trade volume in the coming months,” Schroeder explained.

Schroeder says that a lot of German owned companies still invest in the country. One of those ware Continental/Temic which opens its third factory in Laguna last 2008 hiring 1,300 employees.

Lufthansa Technik Philippines has further expanded to Cebu in order to repair Boeing 777 aircraft. The company additionally hires 2,800 highly trained employees.

A 600-seat call center in Quezon City was also established by a German owned company Arvato Digital Service, February this year. The subsidiary of the German publishing company Bertelsmann is already making plans for future expansion.

German ship-owner Peter Doehle from Hamburg also extends their services in the country from the traditional manning and recruitment activity into BPO with additional services in accounting and travel which have been partly moved from Europe to the Philippines.

This month Southern Industrial Gases Phils., Inc. (SIG) – part of the German Linde Group – is opening a new air separation unit (ASU) in Balamban Cebu. The investment of P1 billion will produce low temperature gases for the ship building industry and also liquid oxygen for supply to hospitals in the Visayas and Mindanao.