The Gastarbeiter are coming. Days after German industrial giants Siemens and Opel announced thousands of job cuts, Berlin's state employment agency is encouraging the city's young unemployed people to take up jobs in Irish call centres, hotels and hospitals.

In some cases, the agency is even offering applicants up to 5,000 deutschmarks (€2,556) to make the move. "Unemployed in Berlin: how about a job in Ireland?" reported Berlin tabloid BZ earlier this week. The newspaper printed photos of the "rough cliffs" of Dingle and the Liffey running through Dublin, where, it said, "there are loads of jobs".

Things couldn't be more different in Berlin. Less than a decade ago, thousands of Irish construction workers arrived to rebuild the German capital. But the construction industry has collapsed, the city is £28 billion (€36 billion) in debt and unemployment is running at around 16 per cent, with more than half a million people out of work.

The initiative by Berlin's state employment agency, in conjunction with F┴S, started last week. An information van started making its way around eastern Germany, encouraging young unemployed Germans to attend a jobs fair next week in Berlin. Mr Dermod O'Byrne of F┴S is to address the conference.

"What we are doing is helping people make an informed decision before they leave home," he said. The demand for foreign workers has not diminished in recent months, he said, with telemarketing, health and construction still in need of foreign workers.

"Salary levels in call centres aren't great but people want to work in an English-speaking environment," he said. "To have on their CV that they worked abroad is a big thing for a German employer."

Berlin's state employment agency tells applicants to expect a longer working week in the Republic and to be ready for a salary "somewhat less than the German income standard". The agency says the cost of living in Dublin is "comparable" to Berlin. A survey last year ranked Dublin as Europe's fifth most expensive city, with Berlin in ninth place - so some emigrants could get a shock.

Recruiting German workers to the Republic is not new. Last year IBM ran advertisements in Berlin newspapers showing two smiling women in Aran sweaters over the catchline: "Greetings from Dublin, the capital of fun."

Every weekend, recruitment pages have advertisements headlined "Ireland Calling" and "Job opportunities in the Emerald Isle". Mr Brian O'Farrell, who runs a recruitment agency in Berlin, says he could not find enough candidates to meet demand in the past two years. But things were slacker this year, he said. "We've got more Germans on our books than we can place. With Gateway closing and other closures, it's slower than it was, but there's big demand for midwives in Holles Street."