A cross-border jobs initiative has been set up along the northern Dutch-German border in an effort to help German firms fill their vacancies, Nos television reports on Friday.

The unemployment rate in the northern German border regions varies from 2% to 3% while in the Dutch northern provinces, it can be over 9%.
Many of the German firms are family-run companies which need staff, prompting the development of the new jobs platform Jobrobotor, which now has some 60,000 jobs online.
Wages
Aside from the government support they enjoy, the main reason for the better economic position of the German firms is that wages are lower, says Karel Groen, director of the Eems Dollard Regio initiative.
But this also means Dutch nationals are reluctant to take the jobs because of the lower pay rates. Wilhelm Kuiper of a family-run engineering firm, told Nos he has workers from 18 different nationalities working for him – but no-one from the Netherlands.
Groen hopes the new initiative will encourage people to take the German jobs. ‘It cannot be the case that German firms are bringing people in from Spain while 20 km away there are Dutch people without a job,’ he said.