The vocational training opportunities for young people have once again improved over the past year. During a meeting in Berlin in march, Martin Wansleben, Chief Executive Director of the German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), expressed his satisfaction with what was achieved by the Vocational Training Pact.
"Although businesses face increasing problems in staffing all apprenticeship vacancies, we register a solid growth as regards new contracts", reported Wansleben. "This also reflects the uninterrupted high degree of commitment on part of enterprises and the partners in the pact."
He raised attention to the 540,000 vocational training placements, which were newly staffed in the past year. This signified a plus of 4 per cent compared to 2010. "In the field of industry, service provisions and commerce we even registered an increase of about 6 per cent."
Wansleben said, "This growth was achieved in spite of a decline in applications by 2.5 per cent, because a larger number of unplaced applicants from previous years as well as slow learners were given the opportunity to enter into vocational training."
The DIHK Chief Executive Director stressed, however, that this increase could have been significantly higher, "if there had been more suitable applicants." He therefore estimates that some 75,000 placements remained unstaffed across the entire range of industries in 2011.
He continued to say that the economy had more than fulfilled its Vocational Training Pact promises as regards new apprenticeship training positions and additional businesses offering vocational training. However, the entry qualifications did not meet the levels agreed upon. The main reason for that was the very large range of apprenticeship training positions on offer, said Wansleben. "This resulted very simply in a lower demand for additional placements towards an entry qualification."
He therefore considered the central challenge for the future of the Vocational Training Pact to be constituted by the task of "placing more young people in apprenticeship training positions without detour via a preparatory loop", said the DIHK Chief Executive Director. "The decline in applicant numbers will help us in meeting this challenge. For enterprises are increasingly prepared to themselves provide coaching and to enter into partnerships with schools."
The demographic challenge continued to grow, Wansleben continued to say. "In 2020, 200,000 fewer young people will graduate from school than was the case in 2005 – a decline by more than 20 per cent." Also, the trend towards studying remained strong.
"More than ever before we therefore need to focus the efforts of the Vocational Training Pact on improving apprenticeship entry maturity and occupational orientation", Wansleben demanded. "We also need to increase our promotion efforts to raise the attractiveness of dual vocational training amongst young people. For the innovation strength of the German economy rests on the foundation of the skilled labour this very economy trains itself."