Zimpapers Logo

Geneva. — Nestle SA, the world’s biggest food company, said 100 000 job opportunities will be created for young people within four years as it expands an alliance with about 200 companies including Google Inc to cut youth joblessness.
Nestle plans to provide a fifth of those positions, Laurent Freixe, head of European operations for the KitKat and Nespresso maker, said at a press conference at its Vevey, Switzerland headquarters.

Youth unemployment stood at almost 22 percent in the European Union in July, and in the worst cases, such as Spain and Greece, it was more than 50 percent.
Members of the initiative, called Alliance for Youth, include Adecco SA and Twitter Inc.

Some have set targets, such as French insurer Axa SA, which has pledged 20 000 internships and jobs by 2018.
“You have markets with high unemployment, and then companies reduce investment there,” Freixe s aid.

“We want to create an environment where companies want to take the risk of giving someone a first job.”
Nestle, which pays its interns, expects it will gain digital-savvy new employees to help replace retiring workers to keep its approximately 150 factories in Europe churning out higher volumes.

Some European countries don’t have legal frameworks for apprenticeships to exist, and governments should change that, Freixe said. — Bloomberg.