when the moving vans start to roll, we ought to realize we are not moving into a different republic," he insisted. The ongoing process of unification, in short, will continue to take place within a constitutional framework that has successfully met the challenges of a changing world for a half century now.http://www.germany-info.org/newcontent/index_facts.htmlH. Major Domestic Problems and PoliciesYouth Unemployment: Background At the close of 1998, approximately 430,000 men and women under the age of 25 were registered as unemployed in Germany - 300,000 in the western states and 130,000 in the eastern states. The unemployment rate among the young - 10.8 percent - was slightly below the rate for the German work force as a whole (11.2 percent). In the eastern states, the unemployment rate for people under 25 was 15.5 percent; in the western states, the rate was 9.5 percent. Youth unemployment is in large part a problem of qualifications, and discussion of the problem has gone hand in hand with a debate over the future of Germany's vocational education system. Almost two-thirds of the young people out of work in the fall of 1998 lacked vocational or academic credentials. For young people not bound for university or specialized colleges (Fachhochschulen), the most important source of career training remains the apprenticeship system. Demand for apprenticeships has, however, outstripped supply in recent years. In 1998, for example, roughly 648,000 teenagers sought to begin apprenticeships but there were only 636,000 apprenticeships available nationwide. The shortfall has been more pronounced in some regions, particularly in the eastern states, and in many of the more popular trades. By the government's estimate, some 35,000 teenagers who had hoped to begin apprenticeships in the fall of 1998 were unable to find positions. Prelim...
