As of: March 7, 2024, 8:47 a.m
By: Kai Bräunig, Sok Eng Lim
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Germany is struggling with the biggest shortage of trainees in 30 years.
Most recently, one in eight positions was not filled.
Our map shows where young talent is particularly scarce - and in which professions.
Berlin – In more than 74,000 cases last year, German companies failed to find a trainee.
A regional hotspot is Bavaria: In the Regensburg district, for example, there is a shortage of almost 1,500 trainees, more than anywhere else. One in four training places there remained vacant.
But the bottleneck is not only evident in Bavaria.
We evaluated tens of thousands of data.
The more critical the situation, the darker the district is colored on our map.
Brandenburg has the greatest problems with young talent of all federal states.
Of every 100 training places, around 21 remain vacant.
And among the regional states, Lower Saxony is still in the best position with a gap of around nine trainees.
Where do these differences come from?
Even the Federal Institute for Vocational Training (BIBB) did not have a clear answer to this when asked by
IPPEN.MEDIA
.
Each individual district has its own reasons.
Despite the overall still acceptable situation, there are also significant gaps in Lower Saxony - for example in the Oldenburg-Wilhelmshaven district.
This has to forego the training of 54 gardeners.
The green thumb industry is actually a huge business in Lower Saxony with a turnover of two billion.
Trade and crafts are desperately looking for trainees
But which sectors are most affected?
Due to impending retirement, the retail sector advertised a particularly large number of training positions.
But with manageable success: merchants are the number one occupation in shortage in two out of three districts.
This is followed by another trading profession: salespeople.
Without concrete and steel builders, no new apartments: The trainee crisis is exacerbating the housing shortage.
© Marc Tirl/picture alliance/dpa
The skilled trades also have major concerns for young talent: In rare professions such as toy making, in some cases no trainees could be found at all.
The situation is also critical in the construction industry, where more than a third of the apprenticeships for concrete and steel workers remain vacant.
The result, among other things: urgently needed living space is missing.
Aging and the pandemic plunged companies into a personnel crisis
The situation has not only been so critical since this training year.
The last time there were more applicants than positions was in 2015. With Corona, the situation has worsened further.
The number of training positions on offer also decreased between 2019 and 2023.
However, the number of applicants has shrunk more sharply.
One possible reason: During Corona, students had fewer points of contact with companies - for example through internships.
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There is widespread consensus that the aging of society is the main cause of the trainee crisis.
As a possible solution, the education experts suggest recruiting young talent from abroad.
How difficult this can be in practice was demonstrated last year by an Upper Bavarian master baker.
He had two trainees flown in from Vietnam.
But both of them stopped their apprenticeships.
The only way out for the bakery is to shorten its opening hours.
Our data, sources, methods
We evaluated more than 50,000 data series from the Federal Institute for Vocational Training (BIBB) as of September 30, 2023.
Part of the statistics comes from the Federal Employment Agency.
The BIBB has rounded absolute numbers to a multiple of three.
The data set includes professions according to the Vocational Training Act, the Crafts Code and ship mechanic.
The BIBB does not record training in nursing, civil service training or school training.
The employment agency districts come from the Federal Office of Cartography and Geodesy (as of 2022) and the BIBB.
We have adjusted the districts to the status of 2023.
We also used data from the Federal Statistical Office.