Many companies cannot fill their training positions. This is the result of a DIHK survey. Gastronomy, industry and trade in particular have problems with young people.
More companies than ever before are unable to fully fill the training positions they offer. This was the result of an online survey by the DIHK in May, in which more than 14,000 companies took part.
According to this, 47 percent of the companies do not find an apprentice for every training position. A good third of the companies (37 percent) did not even receive a single application afterwards.
Demographic Change sweeps the job market empty
According to the DIHK, the most important reason for the lack of new trainees is demographic change: “Today there are around 100,000 fewer school leavers than there were ten years ago,” said Deputy DIHK General Manager Achim Dercks. This means, for example, that soon up to 400,000 more employees will leave the labor market than new ones will be added.
The situation in gastronomy, industry and retail is particularly tense. It is likely that many tens of thousands of training positions will remain unfilled. In the long term, the shortage of trainees will turn into a shortage of skilled workers, said Dercks.
Small plus at training contracts
However, the association sees a silver lining in the number of contracts concluded this year. By the end of July, almost 207,000 training contracts had been signed at the chambers of industry and commerce, an increase of 3.7 percent compared to the same period last year. The DIHK does not currently want to give a forecast for 2023 as a whole.
According to the survey, around 80 percent of companies want to make more offers to make their training positions more attractive, for example with internships, events and targeted advertising with celebrities as training ambassadors. According to the DIHK, companies are also advertising with more modern technology and subsidies for mobility and housing.
Historically low trainee numbers
Last year, 469,900 trainees concluded a training contract in dual vocational training, which was an increase of 0.8 percent, but remained “at a historically low level”, as the Federal Statistical Office announced yesterday.
Compared to the pre-Corona year 2019, the number means a minus of eight percent. In 2012, the number of new training contracts was still 544,400.
New competition dual studies
Last but not least, the dual study program in Germany represents increasing competition for classic dual vocational training. The trend here is rising.
The Federal Institute for Vocational Training (BIBB) identified 120,517 dual students in Germany for the past year. In the last year of the survey, 2019, the number was 108,202. Ten years ago, at 64,093, it was only around half.