Pact on apprenticeships exceeded objectives in 2007

At the end of January 2008, the outcome of the fourth year of the pact on apprenticeships was presented. The parties involved, including the federal government and several umbrella organisations of employer and business associations, stated that increasing efforts had been undertaken to create new vocational training places. The trade unions’ umbrella organisation, however, doubted that the pact had led to a noticeable improvement in the training prospects of young workers.

On 31 January 2008, the federal government, the Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit, BA) and representatives of several employer and business associations presented the performance report for 2007 (in German) of the so-called pact on apprenticeships (Ausbildungspakt).

Background

The vocational training agreement came into effect on 16 June 2004. By signing the agreement, the employer and business associations avoided the imposition of a vocational training levy by the former Red-Green coalition government (DE0407105F). In addition to the federal government and the BA, the signatories of the pact on apprenticeships include the Confederation of German Employers’ Associations (Bundesvereinigung der Deutschen Arbeitgeberverbände, BDA), the Federation of German Industries (Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie, BDI), the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (Deutscher Industrie- und Handelskammertag, DIHK), the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (Zentralverband des Deutschen Handwerks, ZDH) and the German Association of Liberal Professions (Bundesverband der Freien Berufe, BFB).

On 5 March 2007, the government announced the extension of the pact on apprenticeships (in German). The renewed agreement will run until 2010. Employer and business organisations continue to commit themselves to providing a specific number of first-time vocational training places, as well as work experience opportunities (Einstiegsqualifizierungen). The latter are, in addition, subsidised by the BA.

Positive balance in 2007

According to the performance report for 2007, the total number of new apprenticeships amounted to 626,000 at the end of September 2007. This figure was 8.6% higher than the total number of new apprenticeships reported in the previous year. On 1 October 2007, the so-called ‘clearing phase’ (Nachvermittlungsaktion) started. Since then, the total number of applicants who do not have a training place has fallen from 29,100 to 11,300 persons. For applicants who have not yet been placed, a total of 4,200 vocational training places and 19,500 work experience opportunities remain vacant.

With respect to the objectives of the pact, the report provided the following information on the efforts of the parties involved in 2007.

• In 2007, private sector companies offered a total number of 88,900 in-house training places for the first time. Moreover, some 53,600 establishments that had not, until then, provided any vocational training decided to offer apprenticeship places. Both figures exceed the objectives that were agreed for 2007 – 60,000 training places and 30,000 establishments.

• Some 10,000 vocational training places were provided within the scope of a programme run by the federal government. This programme aims to promote initial vocational training in eastern Germany (Bund-Länder-Ausbildungsprogramm Ost).

• The BA subsidised a further 48,700 entrants into external vocational training programmes that are conducted by, for example, education centres. This amounted to an increase of 12,300 trainees or a 34% rise.

• In addition, 43,250 work experience opportunities have been offered by companies in the private sector. By mid January 2007, about 24,000 young persons had been able to take advantage of these opportunities. These work experience places last one year and are, in particular, regarded as a means for those who otherwise fail to meet the skills requirements for a regular apprenticeship stipulated by the companies to bridge that gap. It is worth noting that, according to an evaluation (in German) commissioned by the BA, almost three quarters of those who participated in a work experience scheme in the autumn of 2006 had already started a regular apprenticeship by the beginning of October 2007.

Social partner reactions

In a press statement (in German) issued on 31 January 2008, the General Manager of the DIHK, Martin Wansleben, praised the outcome of the pact as impressive. However, he warned that a positive outcome of the training agreement in 2008 might be jeopardised if the government implemented its plan to introduce a general subsidy scheme for initial vocational training (Ausbildungsbonus). Such a scheme was announced by the new Secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales, BMAS), Olaf Scholz, in his address to parliament (in German) on 18 January 2008.

A member of the executive board of the Confederation of German Trade Unions (Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, DGB), Ingrid Sehrbrock, acknowledged in a press release (in German) that the number of training places that were being offered for the first time had increased. Nonetheless, she criticised the fact that the number of establishments that had once offered training places but no longer do so was not taken into consideration. She argued, therefore, that the ratio between the number of school graduates and the proportion of vocational training places had deteriorated since 1992.

Oliver Stettes, Cologne Institute for Economic Research (IW Köln)