More young people without professional qualifications than expected

Young people in training

Despite the shortage of skilled workers, the number of unskilled workers is increasing.

(Photo: Imago/Westend61)

Berlin 2.64 million young people between 20 and 35 had no vocational training in 2021. This is shown by the final version of the vocational training report 2023, which the cabinet will deal with this Wednesday. A draft was based on “only” 2.5 million, as the Handelsblatt reported – but that would have been a new record. Because in 2020 there were still 2.33 million.

At the same time, the proportion of young people in this age group without a vocational qualification rose from 15.5 to 17.8 percent in just one year, according to the report by the Federal Institute for Vocational Training (BIBB) for the government.

The total number of unskilled workers has been increasing for ten years, in 2016 it exceeded two million for the first time. The gender difference is striking: According to the updated data, a good 16 percent of young women were unskilled, compared to a good 19 percent of young men.

This is all the more serious as the shortage of skilled workers and workers is increasing at the same time. According to the latest data from the competence center for securing skilled workers (Kofa) at the German Economic Institute, there were no suitably qualified unemployed persons for more than 630,000 vacancies in 2022. The shortage of skilled workers is thus greater than ever before.

“The development is even worse than it first looked,” said the deputy DGB chair Elke Hannack, commenting on the latest figures for the unskilled and semi-skilled, calling the steep increase an “educational scandal”.

Negative trend will continue

The DGB Vice fears that the negative development will “further worsen” in the coming years. Because too many young people still fall through the cracks and don’t get the support they need.

>> Read here: Rich parents, good opportunities – the German educational dilemma in numbers

In fact, only just under every fifth company provides training. This is partly because the number of applicants is declining due to demographics. However, there are also regions in which there are still more interested parties than apprenticeships. The head of the Federal Employment Agency (BA), Andrea Nahles, called Berlin the “blackest spot on the training map”.

In addition, more than 200,000 school leavers end up in the so-called transitional system every year. These are courses in which they can catch up on school qualifications and missed knowledge, but cannot do any training.

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As announced in the coalition agreement, the government has therefore decided on a “training guarantee” so that the BA can offer anyone interested an inter-company apprenticeship in case of doubt. This still has to be approved by the Bundestag.

The number of unskilled workers “is indeed far too high”, warns the Deputy General Manager of the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), Achim Dercks, even if it is characterized by special factors such as the pandemic and a large number of young people who have fled. However, the Ukraine refugees do not play a role in this evaluation, as they only came to the country in 2022.

>> Read here: The unskilled crisis is as dangerous as the energy crisis – only with an announcement

Dercks is in favor of “taking a closer look at the group of 25 to 30-year-olds and winning them over to training,” he told the Handelsblatt. With increasing age, the proportion of unskilled workers also increases. You have to give young people in training a second chance and also win over university dropouts so that they “make the switch to vocational training even more often”.

Recognize half qualifications

The chambers of industry and commerce are already committed to the placement of partial qualifications in order to also bring young people with little educational background through gradual post-qualification, ideally to a vocational qualification. “We should use this tool much more in the future,” says Dercks. A study by the Bertelsmann Foundation recently showed that companies are increasingly keen to hire these so-called “semi-skilled workers”.

Employers are also pushing to rely more on partial qualification. This is particularly useful for refugees without formal qualifications.

These partial qualifications could then lead to a professional qualification over several stages, according to a statement for the Handelsblatt. However, it makes no sense to qualify unskilled workers “in the dark”, because this does not necessarily improve their chances. The decisive factor is always the individual situation and the situation on the respective job market.

The BDA also reiterated its call for better career orientation in schools. In the pandemic, it was partially completely absent.

More: The head of the Institute for the Study of Labor has a surprising view of the staff shortage: he could make Germany more productive and at the same time reduce inequality

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