Youth employment measures and new apprenticeships

In 2000, as part of its National Action Plan for employment, the Austrian government has taken a number of measures aimed at promoting youth employment. This has included the introduction of several new apprenticeships, which has met with strong criticism from organisations representing employees. The debate has highlighted growing conflict between the social partners on youth training issues.

In connection with Austria's 2000 National Action Plan () for employment (in response to the EU Employment Guidelines), an "apprenticeship pact" (Lehrlingspakt) has been adopted in order to promote youth employment. This means that an apprenticeship should now be guaranteed for all young persons who seek such an employment/training course. In autumn 2000, it is estimated that about 36,000 15-year-olds (40% of the whole age group) are starting an apprenticeship.

The Employment Service (Arbeitsmarktservice, AMS) estimates that about 1,500 young people will not be able to find a normal apprenticeship or training course in 2000. For this group, a network of government-funded apprenticeships and training courses offered by foundations is available. These institutions receive an annual ATS 500 million in funding at present, but this is to be increased if it appears to be insufficient. The government now plans to admit this group of young people to special apprenticeship courses with a duration of 10 months. According to the experience of recent years, nearly half of those young people who take such courses will be admitted to normal apprenticeships afterwards. The apprenticeship foundations (Lehrlingsstiftungen) which show a much lower success rate in placing trainees in normal apprenticeships will now be closed down. Other foundations which aim to promote the employment of disadvantaged groups of young people, outside the terms of the NAP, will not be affected.

In addition, the government plans to introduce a variety of measures in schools. Accordingly, young people should increasingly be channelled into higher vocational education (Fachhochschulen). Information about the professions available should be improved in schools and the technical equipment of vocational schools (Berufsschulen) and educational establishments (Lehranstalten) should be utilised more efficiently, in cooperation with private companies.

Introduction of new occupations and trades

The current government and its predecessors see the creation of new apprenticeship trades and occupations as an important measure to promote youth employment and have made this a major goal of their education policy (AT9801159F). With high expectations, new trades and occupations have been introduced in response to economic changes, mainly in the service sectors. Furthermore, the government has sought to create additional apprenticeships to enhance the employability of young people.

In 1997, the social partners and the government agreed in principle on the introduction of new apprenticeships with a duration of about two years, which is shorter than usually required. However, all attempts to introduce such short apprenticeships failed until 2000. In order to increase the supply of apprenticeships, the Ministry of Business and Labour now regards it as necessary to simplify some existing apprenticeships and introduce new and shorter training. For example, such reformed apprenticeships have been proposed for the restaurant and hotels industry, wood processing and metalworking . In these cases, the apprentices may undertake additional training after the completion of the new, shorter apprenticehip to obtain the full, longer apprenticeship. It is deemed important to establish a flexible duration of training in these occupations, since only part of the qualifications typical of a more comprehensive apprenticeship is covered by the new apprenticeships.

The introduction of new apprenticeships in the telecommunications sector is regarded as a major task by the government. Since telecommunications technologies are regarded as playing a dominant role in the future of the economy, the training of professionals in this area is seen as being of great importance. In the view of the government, the utilisation of the new information technologies in production, administration and the media also requires new combinations of qualifications. Accordingly, several new apprenticeship occupations and trades have been created to meet new requirements. For example, people who sell computers must have knowledge of technical, business and customer service issues, and the traditional apprenticeship for salespersons does not embrace this combination of qualifications.

Due to the late introduction of the new occupations and trades, which started in 1997-8 - the latest introduction of new apprenticeships took place in July 2000, when 17 new occupations were established - a comprehensive evaluation of this initiative is not available. However, an evaluation by the Institute for Research on Qualification and Training of the Austrian Economy (Institut für Bildungsforschung der Wirtschaft, IBW), a research institution linked to the Chamber of the Economy (Wirtschaftskammer Österreichs, WKÖ), suggests that a considerable number of the 24 new apprenticeships introduced in 1997-8 have been widely accepted. In December 1999, more than 4,000 apprenticeship contracts had been signed in these areas. About 1,600 companies had applied for authorisation to offer these new apprenticeships, representing more than 3% of all companies training apprentices. The share of female apprentices in this new occupations is relatively high at 43%. According to a survey conducted by IBW among companies which train young people in the new apprenticeships, about two-thirds of the apprenticeship contracts concluded in these occupations can be regarded as additional contracts, rather than merely replacing contracts in existing occupations. Furthermore, 95% of companies surveyed consider the new apprenticeships as a success and a majority plan to take on new apprentices in these occupations

Social partners

Traditionally, issues related to youth employment and training in Austria are negotiated in a special, "corporatist" advisory council, the Federal Vocational Training Advisory Council (Bundes-Berufsausbildungsbeirat). According to the relevant legislation (the Vocational Training Act or Berufsausbildungsgesetz, BAG), the task of this council is to review government proposals relating to the field covered by the BAG, which includes amendments to the general legislation in the field of youth training and the introduction of new apprenticeships. The members of the council are nominated by the two public-law interest associations representing employers and workers - respectively the Chamber of the Economy and the Chamber of Labour (Bundesarbeitskammer, BAK).

Until the 1990s, the advisory council actually made decisions on vocational training since consensuses reached between the social partners in the council were then ratified by the responsible ministry, the Ministry of Economic Affairs. This situation changed in the 1990s, when the minister responsible for training matters came from the conservative People's Party (Österreichische Volkspartei,ÖVP), which is closely liked to WKÖ via shared offices. This meant a growing predominance of business interests in the decision-making process. As a compromise, the coalition government parties - ÖVP and the Social Democratic Party (Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs, SPÖ) - agreed that decisions on training had to be based on a consensus between the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Social Affairs, which was traditionally dominated by the SPÖ. This agreement meant that a settlement between the different interests was made possible. However, the new coalition government of the ÖVP and the right-wing Freedom Party (Freiheitliche Partei, FPÖ), which came to power in early 2000 (AT0002212F), merged the two ministries, implying that labour has lost its de facto power of veto in this area.

An unusual feature of the Austrian training system is that the public institutions formally responsible for apprenticeship matters, the apprenticeship authorities (Lehrlingsstelle), are not government institutions, but part of the regional Chambers of the Economy (Wirtschaftskammern, WK). The apprenticeship authorities are responsible for a variety of important tasks, such as the supervision of companies which train apprentices, the collection of statistics and the organisation of final exams. In the view of the Chamber of Labour and the trade unions, the apprenticeship authorities tend to take into account the interests of companies rather than those of the apprentices. The workers' representatives are thus calling for the authorities to be given a bipartite structure.

The employer's organisations are clearly in favour of the new apprenticeships and are demanding further developments in this direction. BAK and the unions take a more critical view of the establishment of new occupations and trades. While they clearly support the creation of apprenticeships in expanding sectors, such as telecommunications, media and health, they state that they cannot see a clear strategy in the establishment of new occupations. Furthermore, the employees' organisations question the quality and content of several new apprenticeships, especially the short apprenticeships covering a reduced scope of qualifications. BAK has opposed some proposals concerning new apprenticeships, regarding them as involving a deterioration of qualification standards that will reduce the mobility of the employees involved on the labour market. It opposes especially new occupations in the hotel and restaurant industry and some other sectors, deeming them as an insufficient basis for the future employment of apprentices, which could encourage the employment of cheap and unskilled employees.

Commentary

Like the former government, the new coalition is determined to promote youth employment and is especially committed to creating new apprenticeships. Although surveys suggest that these new occupations are largely accepted, employees' organisations take a rather critical view of the situation and fear a substantive deterioration of qualification standards. More generally, the debate over the new youth employment measures reveal a growing conflict between the organisations representing business and labour. (Angelika Stueckler, University of Vienna)