The search for new trainees is now a mammoth task for numerous companies in Germany. Apprentices have long been considered a scarce commodity, but the latest figures from the DIHK show that the situation on the job market has worsened significantly over the past year.
It has never been more difficult for companies in Germany to find suitable trainees. Last year, the proportion of companies that could not fill all vacancies with trainees was 42 percent, according to a survey by the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK). “The applicant situation is coming to a head,” said Deputy DIHK General Manager Achim Dercks. This can be described with the sentence: “Apprenticeship is looking for an apprentice”.
The DIHK surveyed 15,000 companies out of a total of 180,000 that provide training in Germany. The proportion of companies that could not find applicants for all of their training positions increased from 32 percent in 2018 to 42 percent in 2021 – across all sectors. In the hospitality industry, the share rose from 56 to 67 percent, in transport and logistics from 40 to 54 percent, in industry from 33 to 50 percent of the companies.
The growing gap between the training opportunities and the young people who are asking is due to the demographic development and the corona pandemic. Because of the corona-related restrictions, career orientation, career advice and the search for a training place were “considerably more difficult” – even this year. According to Dercks, trade and industry hope “that we will get out of the Corona valley”.
Companies are reacting to the lack of applicants by trying to make their training more attractive. This was stated by more than half of the companies in the DIHK survey. They rely on flat hierarchies (58 percent), modern IT technology (51 percent), financial incentives (37 percent) or projects for trainees (26 percent). “Companies have opened their doors wide and are recruiting young people,” said Dercks.
