Despite a year of job hunting, experience with leading automotive suppliers and submitting about 50 applications, German software engineer Max Peil has yet to secure a new position.
Trained in computer vision, a critical part of autonomous and intelligent driving systems, Peil could once have expected to sail into a role at one of Germany's industrial giants.
But years of stagnant growth in Europe's biggest economy and increasingly fierce Chinese competition are now taking their toll on young engineers like Peil.
"Usually you just get rejected straight up," the 30-year-old told Agence France-Presse (AFP) in the western city of Frankfurt.
"I've had one interview. It was the same with my friends, one has sent over 60 applications."
