Thousands of companies are currently unable to fill their positions for trainees. In view of this trainee shortage, employers are now warning of legal requirements in order to guarantee every prospective trainee a training place. “We don’t need a state guarantee for trainees – we need trainees. Politicians ignore demographics – companies face an immense challenge,” said Steffen Kampeter, CEO of the Confederation of German Employers’ Associations (BDA). Süddeutsche Zeitung. The traffic light coalition had stipulated in its coalition agreement that it wanted “a training guarantee that gives all young people access to fully qualifying vocational training”. Details are not yet clear. DGB and SPD have been demanding a legal right to training for years. If this is not possible in one company, it should take place in other facilities.
The DGB argues that even before Corona, more than 80 percent of the companies had not trained, and that the number of places on offer had collapsed during the pandemic. The trade unionists are demanding a fund that all companies have to pay into and from which the training places are then financed. The BDA strictly rejects such a levy. According to a BDA demand paper, which was to be sent to the ministries and specialist politicians involved on Thursday, it was not the training places that were missing, but the right applicants were missing. In the meantime, more training places have been reported than before Corona, and in 13 of the 16 federal states there are significantly more training places than applicants. In North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse, however, there are some and in Berlin significantly more applicants than free places. “A levy would primarily penalize those companies that don’t get trainees although they are looking for them. These are primarily small and medium-sized companies,” said Kampeter. There are 120,000 more jobs than applicants, “why do we need an additional incentive?”
The production of bricks is less tempting
According to the BDA, the main problem is that young people often do not apply for vacancies, but want to get an apprenticeship in their dream job. Some examples of this can be found in the figures from the Federal Employment Agency: in the popular profession of animal keeper, for example, there are nine times as many applicants as there are places, in photo technology and photography there are a good three prospective applicants for one position, and in stage and costume design ten trainees.
The manufacture of bricks or floor panels, on the other hand, is less appealing to young people. The employment agency registered 8.48 jobs per applicant here, and the situation is similar with the production of textiles (5.7 jobs per applicant). According to the BDA, a training place guarantee would have to offer more jobs in the popular professions – and that would create a problem. “A legal training guarantee would send the wrong signal: you get the training place you want, even if you have little chance of finding a job later,” said Kampeter.
A survey of around 15,000 companies underlines how difficult it is for German companies to find trainees. More than four out of ten companies were unable to fill all of the training positions offered last year, according to a survey by the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), which was presented on Thursday. More than one in three of these companies did not receive a single application. “It has never been more difficult for companies to find trainees,” said Deputy DIHK General Manager Achim Dercks. A particularly large number of positions remained vacant in the hospitality industry (67 percent could not fill all trainee positions) and in transport and logistics (54 percent).