More than one third of the companies in Germany which provide training, just under 470,000 in number, are now experiencing major difficulties in filling their training places. Nevertheless, there is no wish on the part of these companies to cease offering company-based training or to reduce their training provision. Quite the contrary is, in fact, the case.
Over the next three years, around 75 per cent of the companies surveyed by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) do not intend to make any change to the scope of their training activities. 16 per cent are even planning an expansion of capacities. Only 7.4 per cent feel compelled to decrease the amount of training they offer, and as few as 1.4 per cent plan to end training involvement entirely. The results of this latest survey, which was carried out by the BIBB Training Panel, have been published in the latest edition of the BIBB REPORT series, Issue 19/12: "Out of the frying pan and into the fire? Vacant training places a future challenge faced by the training places market".
The survey shows that companies are adopting an entirely realistic view of the current situation on the training market. Three in four expect that the problems they are having in finding enough suitable applicants for their training places will tend to increase.
The general view put forward by the authors of the study is that demographic upheaval and the structural change occurring amongst school leavers in conjunction with a tendency towards higher school leaving qualifications will not exercise an equal effect across individual company size classifications, branches and regions.
The following types of company in particular can expect a further worsening of the existing problems they are experiencing in seeking applicants.
- Craft trade companies, small-scale companies in general and small to medium-sized companies with fewer than 20 employees
- Companies in the "new federal states" - i.e. the former East Germany
- Companies offering training provision in occupations with which young people are not sufficiently familiar or in occupations which are not considered attractive enough by young people
- Companies in regions where the decrease in the number of training place applicants has eased the pressure on training contracts
- Companies in regions where the proportions of school leavers with higher-level school leaving qualifications are already considerable or where such proportions will increase further
In order to prevent problems with the recruitment of applicants, the authors advise companies affected to instigate practical measures which will bring about a sustainable improvement in their initial situation.
This would, for example, include a broader range of recruitment strategies. More personal and specific initiation of contact with young people and a greater insight on the part of the young people themselves into the training occupations on offer via such vehicles as internships or company visits will, in turn, afford the companies a better opportunity of concluding training contracts with the young people. The authors also believe that an appropriate approach via social or regional networks will pay off for companies in the long run.
The new BIBB REPORT, Issue 19/12: "Out of the frying pan and into the fire? Vacant training places a future challenge faced by the training places market" is available for download free of charge in pdf format on the BIBB website at www.bibb.de/bibbreport.