Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (BIBB)

The quantitative decline in the number of applicants who had not yet been placed was the result of a renewed increase in the number of young people who 0 usually following unsuccessful attempts to find a training place 0 opted for an alternative to in-company vocational training (such as a vocational preparation scheme, job-hunting, employment, an internship). This group grew by 3,900 to a total of 332,400. By contrast, the share of those individuals who signed a contract for in-company or external training fell from 363,600 to 360,400. Based on this, less than half of the individuals registered with the Federal Employment Agency as being a training place seeker actually ended up with a training place.

Looking at those applicants who opted for an alternative, the share of those who looked for a job increased substantially (+5,700 to a total of 82,600). This is cause for concern inasmuch as members of this subgroup are on average older applicants and it is to be feared that they could in the long term abandon the aim of finding a training place.

Reported training place vacancies

The number of training place vacancies reported to the Federal Employment Agency for placement purposes fell by 48,400 - 9.3 per cent - to 471,500 in 2005. The drop in the number of training places was greater in the eastern section of the country than in the western (-10.8 per cent and -8.9 per cent respectively). A total of 162 out of Germany's 176 employment agency districts (with Berlin counted as one single region) registered fewer training vacancies in 2005 than in the previous year. It is not however possible to extrapolate changes in the number of all new training contracts solely on the basis of the trend seen in reported vacancies. The reason: Neither companies with training vacancies nor youths seeking a training place are required to report to the Federal Employment Agency. In 2004 for example, the number of training vacancies reported to the Federal Employment Agency fell by 26,800 for the entire country. During the same period however, the actual number of new training contracts increased by 15,300.

However interim figures for trade, industry and the skilled trades indicate that the number of new training contracts signed between individuals and firms providing in-house vocational training as of 30 September had fallen below last year's level. This is cause for concern. The number of new training contracts increased by 13,200 in 2004. Since trade, industry and the skilled trades accounted for more than 85 per cent of all training contracts, this positive trend tallied closely with the later overall count for all sectors providing in-house vocational training. According to interim figures for this year, trade, industry and the skilled trades reported 418,300 new training contracts, compared to 445,200 new contracts in 2004. This marked difference (-26,900) would seem to indicate that the total number of new contracts as of 31 December 2005 might be noticeably lower than in 2004.

However, it will be December before the actual number of new training contracts signed during the period 1 October 2004 through 30 September 2005 is known 0 after BIBB has completed its regular survey of relevant offices. A final count cannot be obtained any earlier because many training contracts that are signed during the above period are forwarded to the relevant authorities some time between early October and the end of November and can be counted only then.

Trade, industry and the skilled trades cite the sustained recession on the domestic market and the sizable job cuts seen particularly in the skilled trades sector (for more on this, please see below) as reasons for the decline in the number of new contracts. Also to be taken into account is the fact that a markedly smaller number of training places became vacant this year at the end of the training cycle as trainees completed their training. The reason: There were some 41,900 fewer training places filled three years ago 0 in 2002 when most of this year's "graduates" began their training 0 than the year before (2001). As a consequence, the demand for "successors" in 2005 was considerably less than in 2004.

It should also be noted that the number of predominantly publicly-financed training places (external vocational training) which the Federal Employment Agency and Germany's Länder (federal states) created as an alternative for youths who are socially disadvantaged or suffer disadvantages in the marketplace and for disabled persons has decreased by 7,200 over the previous year. This drop however applied only to Germany's eastern states.

The number of vacant training places reported by companies fell by 41,200 to 422,000. Even though the number of school-leavers in the eastern section of the country has been on the decline, there continues to be a sizable shortage of in-company training places. More than 80 per cent of the 35 employment agency districts in Germany's eastern states had less than 40 in-company training places to offer for every 100 registered training place seekers. In more than half of these districts, the number of vacancies was less than 30 vacancies for every 100 registered training place seekers.

By contrast, there are still a number of regions in the western half of the country where the number of in-company training place vacancies registered with the employment offices still exceeds the number of registered training place seekers. The generally more favourable situation in the western states is however also a consequence of the fact that fewer training place seekers make use of the employment offices' services when looking for a training place. According to statistics, an average of 70 out of every 100 school-leavers in the western states registered with an employment office as a training place seeker. In the eastern states, this figure was 98 out of every 100 school-leavers.

 

Training place vacancies that have been reported to the Federal Employment Agency but remained unfilled

Some 12,600 training places were still unfilled at the close of the placement year. This is 700 or 5.5 per cent fewer than last year. Never has the supply of vacant training places that have been reported to the Federal Employment Agency been so exhausted at the end of a placement year. In western Germany, there were only 11,800 vacancies (-6.0 per cent) while the number of unfilled training places in the eastern section of the country remained virtually unchanged at 845.

As in years past, more training places remained vacant for occupations in the skilled trades (3.4 per cent vacancies) than for occupations in trade/industry (2.5 per cent vacancies) or in government service (0.6 per cent vacancies). The number of yet unplaced applicants was larger than the number of still vacant training places in nearly all occupational fields. In general, only the butcher's trade and window/building cleaners report more vacant training places than unplaced applicants.

Registered training place applicants


The number of youths who registered with an employment agency as seeking a training place rose by 4,600 or 0.6 percent over the previous year to a total of 740,700. The western states alone accounted for this increase. In this section of the country, the number of applicants rose by 15,200 (+2.9 per cent) over 2004. This was probably and primarily due to the continued increase in the number of school-leavers (+8,700) and a rise in the number of unplaced applicants carried over from previous years. By contrast, the number of applicants in eastern Germany fell noticeably (-10,400 to 202,500). This drop exceeded the decline seen in the number of school-leavers (-6,100 compared to 2004).

Once again, the occupations at the top of applicants' wish lists were limited to just a few occupational groups: 119,200 applicants wanted to undergo training as trade clerks (e.g., trained retail salesperson), 104,200 as trained clerks (e.g., office communications clerk), 49,600 as mechanics (e.g. automotive mechantronics fitter), 44,300 as qualified medical employees (e.g., qualified dental employee) and 30,100 as hairdressers. This adds up to 347,400 or 47 per cent of all registered training place seekers.

The fact that young people's preferences are concentrated on just a handful of occupations makes it very difficult for employment agencies to place them all. Due to this situation, 347,400 applicants vied for just 193,700 openings in these occupations, leaving a shortfall of 153,600 openings. Young people were however quite flexible. According to a survey of training place seekers which the Federal Employment Agency ("BA") and the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training ("BIBB") conducted in late 2004, 70 per cent of those individuals who were looking for a training place ultimately submitted training applications for more than one occupation; 44 per cent had submitted applications for four or more occupations.

 

Applicants who were still looking for a training place at the end of the accounting year

According to official figures, 88,100 training place seekers were still looking for a training place as of 30 September 2005.

Broken down, this figure is comprised of 40,900 who were categorized as "not yet placed" and 47,200 who opted for an alternative but would still like to find a training place.

Compared to 2004, the number of applicants who were involuntarily not able to start vocational training has fallen slightly (-4,400). Nonetheless, this figure is still high compared to levels seen in years past. This is true not only of the number of yet unplaced applicants but also of the number of applicants who still want to be placed.

Applicants who have not yet been placed

Of the 40,900 "applicants who have not yet been placed", 29,700 came from the western section of the country and 11,200 from the eastern section. The relative share of unplaced applicants is now nearly equally divided between the two, with the western states accounting for 5.4 per cent and the eastern states 5.5 per cent.

The picture seen this year was similar to last year's:

• The share of unplaced training place seekers who had completed lower secondary level school was much larger (6.3 per cent) than the share of unplaced training place seekers who had earned university entrance qualification (3.9 per cent).
• The share of unplaced Turkish youths (7.4 per cent) was larger than the share of unplaced Greek (6.4 per cent) and German youths (5.4 per cent). 
• The share of unplaced training place seekers who had finished school the year before or even earlier (6.3 percent) was larger than the corresponding share of unplaced training place seekers who had completed school in 2004 (4.8 percent).

The federal government, state governments, labour market authorities, trade and industry have once again agreed upon extensive measures for this year's follow-up placement campaign in order to open up new opportunities for unplaced applicants to find an in-company training place. In the eastern states, just under 10,000 training places were made available through the federal-state programme and supplementary state-level measures. Company-based introductory training 0 which shifts training preparation more into companies that provide in-house training 0 plays a special role here. These activities however will benefit first and foremost those applicants who have not yet been placed - and not those who ended up in a "tide-over" measure, since this latter group is classified for the time being as "placed".

 

Training place seekers who opted for an alternative but who would still like to be placed


For years now, the number of applicants who opt for an alternative to vocational training but who are still officially registered as still seeking a training place has exceeded the number of "still unplaced applicants". Most of these 47,200 applicants began looking for a job as an alternative (16,300 or 34.6 per cent) or enrolled in a vocational preparation scheme (15,700 or 33.2 per cent).

Regardless of what these young people had opted for, they are not counted as "still unplaced applicants" and therefore do not belong to the group of persons who were officially reported as seeking a training place in 2005. This last point is problematic because young people are not recognized as "demanders" simply because rather than have nothing they found a tide-over option when their efforts to find a training place were fruitless. From a research standpoint, vocational training statistics should be revised in this respect. Even more so in light of the fact that Section 86 of Germany's recently amended Vocational Training Act requires the annual Report on Vocational Education and Training to specify the number of "persons registered with the Federal Employment Agency . as seeking initial training places" and not just the number of applicants who are still unplaced.

Other applicants who ended up opting for an alternative or a "tide-over" measure 

A total of 285,200 training-place seekers ended up opting for an alternative or a "tide-over" measure (and no longer want to be placed) rather than undergoing in-house vocational training within the "dual vocational training system" which combines part-time vocational school with practical work experience. Most of them (120,100) enrolled in school (general school, basic vocational training year, full-time vocational school, university, other types of vocational schools). Another 66,300 looked for a job and 17,500 signed up for a vocational preparation scheme. The category "applicants who take up an alternative" also includes 18,200 individuals whose "whereabouts" since receiving a placement offer are not known.

The simple fact that these individuals opted for an alternative to a training place without officially remaining registered as a training place seeker does not mean that the decision to pursue an alternative was voluntary in every case. According to the findings of an applicant survey conducted by the BA and BIBB in late 2004, it is likely that many individuals who were unsuccessful in finding a training place and who consequently decided to opt for an alternative want, for the time being, to complete it. In this survey, more than 109,000 of all individuals who opted for an alternative 0 regardless of whether they still wanted to be placed or not 0 basically said that they had started something else because they had not been able to find a training place. They all reported having written at least 20 applications, whereby the median was 40 applications. Subtracting the number of those individuals who officially remained registered as desiring placement (more than 48,000) from the number of applicants who opted for an alternative, more than 60,000 individuals remain who decided to take up an alternative primarily because they had been unsuccessful in finding a training place and who, a few weeks after the start of the new vocational training year, wanted to complete the alternative they had started.

When the results of the BA-BIBB training place applicant survey from 2004 are extrapolated for the current situation this year, cautious estimates would place the total number of all "latent applicants" again at around 110,000. Approximately half of these persons are attending school-based or vocational preparation courses, while more than 30,000 are employed or are looking for a job. The remaining individuals opted for "Other" (such as a year of voluntary work and community service) or belong to that group of individuals whose "whereabouts" since receiving a placement offer remain unknown.

 


The training place gap


Calculating the theoretical shortage of training places simply by subtracting the number of unplaced applicants from the number of training place vacancies 0 as has been the practice to date 0 admittedly gives the impression that supply and demand are still somewhat balanced. However, it should not be concluded on the basis of this that Germany's "dual" vocational training system is currently able to provide enough training places to meet young people's demand for vocational training.

Added together, the number of yet unplaced applicants and the official number of applicants who still want to be placed even though they had found an alternative to in-company training totalled 88,100 individuals in 2005 who, according to official figures from the Federal Employment Agency, were still looking for a training place as of the end of September. The difference between this aggregate figure and the 12,600 training places that are still vacant would then be 75,500.

The findings from the BA-BIBB applicant survey even seem to indicate that there are considerably more individuals in the training place market who have not been able to finding a training place. The customary method of subtracting the number of training place vacancies from the number of applicants who are still unplaced is therefore not suited to determining the actual difference.
At best, this method is a meant as a point of reference for efforts to give youths prospects in the short term as well and to "have them do something" for the time being.

Training place market and developments in the employment system

Germany's "dual" vocational training system combines work with learning. This offers not only enormous didactic advantages but also gives trainees advantages for their future careers.

However, this year's findings once again confirm that this type of system strongly depends on a functioning employment system. For example, the number of in-company training places on offer in a region correlates closely to the overall local employment situation. Correspondingly, a substantial shortage of in-company training places must also be reckoned with in employment agency districts where unemployment is high.

The federal government, state governments and Federal Employment Agency respond to this situation by, making available more external training places (that are predominantly publicly financed), among other activities. The above table shows just how targeted these efforts are: Shortages of in-company training places are always offset in such a way that on average for all regions approximately 50 training places are available for every 100 school-leavers, be it in-company training places or external training places. This makes it possible to keep the number of applicants who have not yet been placed relatively low in all regions. However, these positive results should not hide the fact that it is still possible to keep the number of training place seekers who are officially classified as such relatively low because individuals who are unable to find one increasingly opt for an alternative.

 


Final remarks


When interpreting data from Germany's employment agencies it must always be remembered that these statistics reflect only part of the training place market. This is true of both the demand and the supply side.

On the demand side, it is likely that this year also saw some 200,000 youths find a training place without having registered with the Federal Employment Agency as a training place seeker. The number of those youths who did not take advantage of the services of the Federal Employment Agency and were unable to find a training place on their own cannot be estimated with any accuracy. In these cases however it must be asked whether these individuals were suited for vocational training and/or whether they actually tried hard enough to find a training place. On the other hand, the Federal Employment Agency determined that the 740,700 youths whom were officially registered with the Agency's Vocational Guidance services at training place seekers in 2005 had the fundamental knowledge and attitudes required for successful vocational education and training.

Looking at the supply side it is also not clear how large the market is outside that segment that is registered with the Federal Employment Agency. Based on an extrapolation of findings from the "IAB-Betriebspanel" representative employer survey, 62 per cent of the training places in western Germany and 70 per cent of the training places in eastern Germany had been reported to the Federal Employment Agency for placement purposes in 2003. This would equal some 461,000 training places. According to the Federal Employment Agency however, 546,700 training places had been reported to it. Based on this, the rate at which companies listed vacant training places with the Federal Employment Agency was considerably higher and was closer to the 572,500 which was officially quoted as the total number of training places on offer. Unfortunately, it is not possible to shed further light on the discrepancies between the extrapolation of the sample results and the statistics from the Vocational Guidance services.

Clues regarding the number of training places that were not listed with the Federal Employment Agency and remained vacant can also be drawn from the results of the IAB-Betriebspanel survey. According to extrapolated findings, companies in Germany had a total of 68,200 training places in 2003 that they were unable to fill 0 59,100 in the western states and 9,100 in the eastern states. The reason for this in most cases was that they had not found a suitable applicant. By contrast only 14,800 training place vacancies nation-wide were still listed with the Federal Employment Agency at the end of the 2003 accounting year, with the western states accounting for 12,500 and the eastern states 800 of them. It must however be remembered when examining the findings of the IAB-Betriebspanel survey that training contracts that fall outside the purview of the Vocational Training Act and the Crafts and Trade Code were also counted toward the number of in-company training places. Such training contracts probably account for 15 per cent of the total. Additionally, there is no further information on how much effort those companies that were unable to fill their vacant training places actually put into looking for trainees. Since a large portion of these companies did not list these vacancies with a local employment agency, the Vocational Guidance services were unable to help them with their search for suitable applicants.

With the amended Vocational Training Act that went into force in April 2005, the German government opened up new avenues for helping young people who have been unable to find a training place to earn recognized vocational qualification at full-time vocational school. This offers a chance for getting more youths into vocational training once again, despite Germany's continued tight economic situation and high unemployment. Unfortunately, figures on how many youths were able to profit from these new opportunities this year are not yet available.



 


Related German-language literature

• Bellmann, Lutz; Hartung, Silke 
  Warum bleiben Ausbildungsstellen unbesetzt? (working paper from the IAB).
  Nuremberg: Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (Institute for Employment Research).
• Brosi, Walter
  Aktuelle Probleme der dualen Ausbildung in Deutschland
  In: Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (Ed.):
  "Wir brauchen hier jeden, hoffnungslose Fälle können wir uns nicht erlauben!" Wege zur Sicherung der beruflichen Zukunft in Deutschland
  Bielefeld: W. Bertelsmann Verlag, 2005. pp. 41-60.
• Eberhard, Verena; Krewerth, Andreas; Ulrich, Joachim Gerd
  "Man muss geradezu perfekt sein, um eine Ausbildungsstelle zu bekommen." Die Situation aus Sicht der Lehrstellenbewerber
  In: Berufsbildung in Wissenschaft und Praxis, 3/2005. pp. 10-13.
• Pahl, Veronika
  Das neue Berufsbildungsgesetz
  In: Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (Ed.):
  "Wir brauchen hier jeden, hoffnungslose Fälle können wir uns nicht erlauben!" Wege zur Sicherung der beruflichen Zukunft in Deutschland
  Bielefeld: W. Bertelsmann Verlag, 2005. pp. 217-227.
• Troltsch, Klaus; Krekel, Elisabeth M.; Ulrich, Joachim Gerd
  Wege und Instrumente zur Steigerung und Stabilisierung der betrieblichen Ausbildungsbeteiligung - Ergebnisse von Expertengesprächen in Betrieben
  In: Krekel, Elisabeth M.; Walden, Günter (Ed.)
  Zukunft der Berufsausbildung in Deutschland: Empirische Untersuchungen und Schlussfolgerungen
  (Berichte zur beruflichen Bildung, Heft 273). Bielefeld: Bertelsmann. pp. 53-93.
• Ulrich, Joachim Gerd
  Wege zwischen dem Verlassen der allgemein bildenden Schule und dem Beginn einer beruflichen Ausbildung. Ein Rückblick auf die Entwicklung der vergangenen Jahre
  In: Informationen für die Beratungs- und Vermittlungsdienste (ibv), Nr. 23/04 from 24 November 2004. pp. 49-60.
• Ulrich, Joachim Gerd
  Wer ist schuld an der Ausbildungsmisere? Diskussion der Lehrstellenprobleme aus attributionstheoretischer Sicht
  In: Berufsbildung in Wissenschaft und Praxis, 3/2004. pp. 15-19.
• Ulrich, Joachim Gerd
  Probleme bei der Bestimmung von Ausbildungsplatznachfrage und Ausbildungsplatzangebot. Definitionen, Operationalisierungen, Messprobleme
  In: Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (Ed.):
  Der Ausbildungsmarkt und seine Einflussfaktoren. Documentation from the conference of the AG BFN vocational education and training research network held on 01/02 July 2004. Bonn: BIBB. pp. 5-36.

Last modified on: November 15, 2005