In the Free State, more people start an apprenticeship in September than a year ago. In handicraft businesses, there are almost 21,000 new trainees, an increase of 1.6 percent, said the Bavarian Handicrafts Day (BHT) on Thursday in Munich. The Bavarian Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BIHK) reported an increase of 5.3 percent with almost 44,000 new trainees. “This is a strong signal and a great success for training,” said BIHK President Klaus Josef Lutz.
Despite the positive trend, the search for trainees for many companies continues to look bleak. In Bavaria, a total of 44,426 apprenticeship positions were still vacant, the BIHK announced, citing figures from the employment agency at the end of July. There were only 14,431 unplaced training applicants compared to this offer. In purely arithmetical terms, there would be three apprenticeships for every unplaced applicant.
According to the information, there are still a good 10,000 vacancies in craft businesses. Especially at grammar schools, career orientation is often too one-sided in the direction of studies, said BIHK President Lutz. Around a fifth of the Bavarian trainees in the IHK area have a university entrance qualification. The Crafts Day reports on many new contacts to high schools through the so-called Day of Crafts in Schools.
According to the BIHK, the most popular IHK professions in Bavaria are retail clerks, IT specialists, salespeople and clerks for office management and industrial clerks. In total, there are more than 200 professions for trainees in Bavaria that are registered with the Chamber of Industry and Commerce. There are 130 skilled trades to choose from in the skilled trades.