study
More and more high school graduates are opting for an apprenticeship
A prospective automotive mechatronics technician: The proportion of high school graduates who opted for an apprenticeship rose from 35 percent in 2011 to 47.4 percent in 2021. Photo
© Hendrik Schmidt/dpa
It doesn’t always have to be studying right after high school. Many opt for vocational training. The situation is getting worse for young people with a high school diploma or no school-leaving certificate.
According to a study, young people with a secondary school diploma are finding it increasingly difficult to get an apprenticeship. At the same time, the proportion of high school graduates who started an apprenticeship has risen significantly in recent years, according to a study published by the FiBS Research Institute for Educational and Social Economics on behalf of the Bertelsmann Foundation.
“There can be no question of a lack of attractiveness of vocational training for high school graduates,” study author Dieter Dohmen is quoted as saying in a statement from the foundation.
Between 2011 and 2021, the proportion of young people who started an apprenticeship with a secondary school diploma fell by a fifth. For young people without a school-leaving certificate, the already difficult situation has recently worsened: According to the study, the transition rate was 30 percent in 2021. In the past 15 years, it had fluctuated around 35 percent. The proportion of high school graduates who decided to do an apprenticeship, on the other hand, rose from 35 percent in 2011 to 47.4 percent in 2021. Before the corona pandemic in 2019, the proportion was even slightly higher (48.5 percent ).
Criticism of “best selection”
“It just doesn’t go together when employers complain about a lack of applicants on the one hand, but on the other hand often just select the best. Young people with a secondary school diploma also need opportunities for an apprenticeship,” said Deputy DGB Chairwoman Elke Hannack of the dpa . There is enormous potential for more training and thus for alleviating the shortage of skilled workers. “As a society, we cannot afford to let this lie fallow,” she said. It is important that the planned training guarantee be improved. The traffic light government has anchored the guarantee in its coalition agreement.
According to the study, the number of apprenticeships has fallen in a long-term comparison: while the last peak in 2007 was a good 844,000 people in apprenticeships, the number in 2021 was 706,000. The corona pandemic meant a cut here, in the years before that the number had increased slightly in the meantime.