Germany proposes creating 500,000 short-term jobs for Syrian refugees

PanARMENIAN.Net - Germany proposes creating up to 500,000 short-term jobs to help Syrian refugees survive in overburdened Middle Eastern host countries, the minister for economic cooperation said during a visit to Jordan on Tuesday, Jan 26, the Associated Press reports.

Germany will raise the idea at next week's annual Syria aid conference in London, the Gerd Mueller told The Associated Press.

"It's called cash for work, to employ Syrian refugees, but also unemployed Jordanians ... in building schools, infrastructure," Mueller said, adding that participants would be paid about 300 euros ($325) a month.

Germany would initially contribute 200 million euros ($217 million), with money to start flowing in mid-2016, and would ask other donors to contribute, according to a handout from his delegation.

"This program ... can create 500,000 jobs in the whole region with 2 billion" euros, Mueller said in Jordan's Baqaa refugee camp, established almost half a century ago for Palestinian refugees, but now housing thousands of displaced Syrians.

Almost 4.3 million Syrians have fled civil war since 2011 and most remain in the region, mainly in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. Some 1.2 million are registered in Lebanon and about 630,000 in Jordan, most living outside formal refugee camps.