Chambers of Industry and Commerce register 3.5 per cent more apprenticeship training positions

In spite of the significant decline in applicant numbers, the apprenticeship market continues to expand: At the end of November, the German Chambers of Industry and Commerce recorded about 344,000 new apprenticeship contracts.

"This is 3.5 per cent more new contracts than in November 2010", explained Martin Wansleben, Managing Director of the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), when presenting the numbers.

Given the fact that in 2011 about 2.5 per cent fewer young people have registered with the German Federal Employment Agency as seeking an apprenticeship training position, this was "a remarkably strong increase", said Wansleben. This also further improved the opportunities for young people who are slow learners and repeat applicants for obtaining an apprenticeship training position with industry, commerce and service provider businesses.

The other side of the coin: More and more businesses face problems in filling their apprenticeship training positions. "I reckon that across all fields of business some 75,000 apprenticeship training positions will remain unfilled by the end of the year", said the DIHK Managing Director.

He reported that the demographic effects were particularly evident in Eastern Germany: Some 8 per cent fewer young people graduated from school there in 2011 than in the previous year 2010. "Since 2005, the number of school leavers in the eastern part of the country has actually halved." This was to explain the decline in current contract numbers by a good 5 per cent compared to the level of the previous year in the newly formed German states, said Wansleben. "This is true although the number of in-company training contracts has actually increased by 2 per cent, while at the same time publicly funded vocational training was quite rightly reduced. The number of external apprenticeship training positions accordingly dropped by 34 per cent."

In the old federal states, the number of school leavers for the current year is slightly above the 2005 level. Yet this was solely due to the marked increase in A level graduates, explained the DIHK Managing Director. "The number of school leavers from secondary general and modern schools (Haupt- and Realschule) – the main demand group for apprenticeship training positions – in the western part of the country in 2011 is lower by more than 11 per cent compared to 2005. This signifies increasing problems in safeguarding the demand for young skilled labour also for West-German businesses."

Given the background of bursting university auditoriums, Wansleben advised young people to consider the dual education system as an alternative to studying at university – especially since they could follow up their final examination with further training or a university degree at any time later.

"Unfortunately it is as yet not widely known that in-company apprenticeships and further training often open up the same career opportunities as does a study course." In the context of the National Pact for Training, the industry and the federal government therefore had agreed to increase their advertising efforts to illustrate the appeal of the dual education system, reported Wansleben. He referred also to the "Berufliche Bildung – praktisch unschlagbar" ("Vocational Education – Practically Unbeatable") campaign recently launched by the Federal Government with support from the industry.