The qualification market in Germany recovers this year

2023-12-16 08:51:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The qualification market in Germany recovers this year

Illustrative photo

This year many youngsters have signed qualification contracts. However, according to the Federal Institute for Vocational Training (BIBB), many places for qualification internships are not filled in 2023.

According to the estimate, 489,200 new contracts for dual qualifications have been signed this year, 3% more than a year ago, as announced by BIBB. This means that the number of new qualifying contracts increased by around 21,700, but remained at 35,900 or 6.8% below the level of 2019, i.e. before the outbreak of the pandemic. In 2020, the coronavirus had caused a massive drop in the number of qualifications.

Supply and demand do not match

According to BIBB, this year it has not yet been possible in many cases to adapt the qualification offers offered by companies to the demand of young people. On the one hand, the percentage of unfilled qualification places increased; around 73,400 qualification places could not be filled across the country in 2023. "This represents 13.4% of the total qualification places offered by companies, a new record", explains BIBB. On the other hand, the number of young people who did not find a qualification place was greater than in 2022. Their number was 63,700 on September 30.

BIBB President Friedrich Hubert Esser calls for more support from politicians in particular: "What is needed in particular is a career guidance offer that reaches young people and better measures to support the mobility of apprentices." ; Small businesses and micro-businesses also need more support when it comes to attracting young school leavers, "especially when it comes to digital communication on social networks".

The Confederation of German Crafts (ZDH) also calls for support so that more young people are attracted by the "promising approach and career opportunities of the dual qualification in crafts".

According to an interview with the president of ZDH, Jörg Dittrich, conducted by the Reuters news agency, this requires a "turn in education and the establishment of a real equivalence between academic and vocational education, in material and non-material terms".

The trend in the labor market: towards the practical qualification of graduates

In contrast to the so-called classical path - high school and then university -, a new social trend is also observed. In recent years, the number of young people who start a professional practice after completing the matura has increased significantly. According to the latest figures from the Federal Statistical Office, almost a third of future apprentices in 2021 also had the right to follow, instead of vocational training, university studies or higher vocational institutes, almost seven percent more than ten years ago.

Particularly high is the number of graduates who start professional internships in more theoretical professions, such as in industry, banking and insurance," says Markus Kiss, qualification expert at the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK). "In the media sector there are also relatively many trainees who have previously graduated from high school." The same goes for booksellers, event organizers, and biology lab technicians.

There is a shortage of skilled labor in the IT sector

There is a shortage of new talent in the IT (Information Technology) sector in Germany, especially when it comes to recruiting qualified specialists. According to the Bitkom association, there are currently 149,000 job vacancies in this sector, a record figure. According to Bitkom president Ralf Wintergerst, there are 12,000 vacancies more than a year ago.

Currently, it takes an average of more than seven and a half months to fill an IT position. For this reason, companies are increasingly focusing on people who have previously had other professions and want to work as computer scientists, explained Wintergerst. Bureaucratic obstacles to hiring young foreigners discourage many managers./DW