As of: February 27, 2024, 2:30 p.m
By: Moritz Maier
Comments
Press
Split
The skilled workers of tomorrow are already missing today: trainees.
Now young people explained to Ministers Habeck, Heil and Stark-Watzinger why training is too unattractive.
Berlin – The German labor market is lacking almost everything: skilled workers, trainees and workers as a whole.
At the skilled workers congress in Berlin, politics and business came together to discuss the problems on the labor market of the future.
Trainees confronted the responsible ministers with the problems with vocational training: poor pay, too little help from the state and exams that depend on the skilled workers of tomorrow.
Training: Thousands of positions are unfilled - and the problem is getting worse
“If we don’t take care of this now, the shortage of labor and skilled workers will become our main brake on growth,” said Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) at the opening of the German Skilled Labor Congress, which addressed one of the most pressing problems facing Germany as a business location.
By 2030 alone, seven million people will have to be replaced in their jobs, said Heil - in addition to the positions that are already unfilled.
“We are still a strong country, but this country needs an update,” the Labor Minister demanded in front of the business representatives and entrepreneurs present.
Federal Ministers Hubertus Heil (SPD) and Robert Habeck (Alliance 90/The Greens) spoke to trainees at the skilled workers congress in Berlin about their assessments of what is going wrong with training in Germany.
Because: Although thousands of positions are vacant, millions in Germany remain without a professional qualification.
© picture alliance/dpa |
Carsten Koall
Part of the problem is that there are too few trainees in Germany.
In 2023, the number of unfilled training positions reached a new high of over 73,000, according to figures from the Federal Institute for Vocational Training (BIBB).
This is also why Labor Minister Heil, Vice Chancellor and Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Alliance 90/The Greens) and Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) sought to talk to trainees away from managing directors and company heads.
They should explain to politicians why, despite so many unfilled training places, over 2.6 million people between the ages of 20 and 34 did not have a vocational qualification in 2021 alone.
Trainees criticize poor pay and training that does not keep up with the requirements
“Politicians want to increase the reputation of training, which is nice.
But training must speak for itself with good quality, but that is often simply not the case.
From a financial point of view alone,” said a young process technologist apprentice to Labor Minister Heil.
Many other trainees also told the ministers that the pay in some companies hardly provides any incentive for training and is often not enough to live on.
Heil agreed and promised improvement, especially for apprentices who can no longer live at home.
“That’s why it’s important to not only promote student housing, but also for trainees.”
Several apprentices explained to the other two ministers that modern training was good, but that vocational schools were unable to keep up with adapting their curricula and that this was why scores of trainees failed exams and ended up without a vocational qualification.
“In the exam, questions suddenly come up that we never covered in school,” said a prospective IT clerk from Franconia.
“That’s why a lot of people fail the exams even though they would be the perfect employees – the companies themselves also say that.”
Habeck and Stark-Watzinger learn from trainees
Habeck wrote down the young people's concerns and summed it up for himself: "The hurdles of the examination requirements are too high." Education Minister Stark-Watzinger was also surprised by the problem and promised to ask the countries responsible for training how many People do not pass exams and assured the young talent that they want to further increase the reputation of training.