Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (BIBB)

Content

Trends in the individual training sectors

Regional trends

Estimates of the number of in-company and external training contracts

Assessment of the trends seen in in-company training contracts in western Germany

Assessment of the trends seen in in-company training contracts in eastern Germany

The trend seen in training places on offer

Placement rates

Trend among unplaced applicants from previous years

'Placement balance sheet' for the Federal Employment Agency

Outlook for the coming years

Relevant literature

Trends in the individual training sectors

As in the corresponding period last year, trade and industry and the skilled trades once again accounted for the largest number of training contracts during the period October 2006 through September 2007 (please see Chart 2).⁴

Trade and industry reported a 9.1% increase (+30,549) in new training contracts for a total of 367,484 - the largest total since 1992. The skilled trades posted a 10.5% increase (+17,094). This sector generated 179,698 new training contracts nationwide, bringing the number approximately back up to the level reported in 2001/2002. 

Looking at the public sector, the relevant offices reported a total of 13,412 training contracts (2006: 14,082 contracts). This reflects a 4.8% decrease in the number of contracts (-670) over the previous year. This development was particularly due to the fact that the number of training places offered for the occupations Specialist for Labour Promotion and Social Insurance Clerk was adjusted to reflect anticipated manpower requirements. In the agricultural sector, the relevant offices reported a total of 15,902 new training contracts nationwide (2006: 15,813 new contracts) for an increase of 0.6% over the previous reporting period.

The liberal professions reported an increase for the first time since 2001. This sector registered 44,556 new training contracts nationwide, 5.8% more than in the previous year (2006: 42,110 new contracts). The General Medical Council (+1,051), General Dental Council (+901), the General Veterinary Council (+359) and the Tax Consultants' Council (+655) reported particularly large increases. By contrast, the number of new contracts registered with the Bar Councils fell by 439.

The domestic science field also reported an increase with a total of 4,474 new training contracts nationwide. This was 154 more than in the previous year, an increase of 3.6%. A total of 388 new training contracts were signed in the ocean shipping sector (2006: 289 contracts), an increase of 34.3%.

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Regional trends

Germany's western states accounted for virtually all of the 49,761 additional training contracts that were signed nationwide during the reporting period. The number of new training contracts signed in the western half of the country grew by 48,601 to 500,816, an increase of 10.7%. This is the largest number of new training contracts reported since the early 1990s. One hundred and thirty-nine of the 141 regions in western Germany (Employment Agency districts) posted an increase in 2007 (please see Chart 3). Only the Oldenburg and Wilhelmshaven regions reported a decrease.

The number of new training contracts in Germany's eastern states and Berlin grew slightly by 1,160 (+0.9%) for a total of 125,098. The 35 Employment Agency districts in eastern Germany (the 3 Employment Agency districts in Berlin were combined for the purposes of the survey) exhibited very divergent trends, with noticeable declines being reported by nearly one third of these regions. A comparison of the rates of change seen in 2007 with the rates of change in the previous year (please see Chart 4) clearly shows that the declines were greater in those regions that reported increases in 2006 (and vice versa).

Substantially greater variance in the rates of change and their negative correlation with the rates of change in the previous year is a typically east German phenomenon.⁶  This is due to the fact that the contracts for government-financed training places that are made available through various assistance programmes to supplement the supply of in-company training places on offer have contractual force before the 30 September reference date in some regions and after 30 September in others. Training contracts that are signed after 30 September are counted in the next year's survey. This leads to ostensible fluctuations from reporting year to reporting year that in some cases continue like waves into the following years. This statistical problem will however become less significant as government-financed training places for youths who are disadvantaged in the training place market are gradually reduced in the wake of current demographic developments.

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Estimates of the number of in-company and external training contracts

'Financing' was introduced as an optional attribute with the 2005 BIBB 30 September survey. The aim of this was to enable sound information regarding the differences between in-company and predominantly publicly-financed ("external") training places. Since this information is voluntary and still leads to highly underestimated findings regarding external training contracts, it has not been possible to generate reliable information in this regard from this year's BIBB survey either.

However, the Federal Employment Agency provides important information through its official vocational training market statistics. A total of 93,380 external training places were recorded for these statistics by the end of September 2007, compared to just 44,786 the year before. The Federal Employment Agency has pointed out in this connection that changes had been made in the methods used to acquire this data. This consequently limits comparisons with last year's figures. Nonetheless, in light of the sizable difference between the number of external training places reported in 2006 and 2007 (+ 48,594), the public has raised the question whether the increase in the number of training contracts signed this year (+ 49,761) was possibly due almost entirely to the creation of additional external training places. If so, the increase in the number of contracts for regular in-company training was either negligible or non-existent.  

Even though it would seem to be logical to correlate these two sets of data - the one being the total number of all new training contracts that BIBB has ascertained and the other the number of external training places registered with the Federal Employment Agency - in order to estimate the number of in-company training contracts simply by subtracting the one from the other, this type of approach is fraught with many problems and pitfalls. This is due to several things, including the fact that

• the data from the Federal Employment Agency is on reported training places and not the actual number of placements (which, as a rule, is a smaller figure);
• school-based training places that do not lead to a training contract constitute a large portion of the number of reported external training places; 
• new training contracts and reported external training places are not always attributed to the same reporting year, even though both surveys (number of new training contracts and the number of external training places reported to the Federal Employment Agency) focus on the same reporting period (which always extends from 1 October to 30 September).

The first problem can be observed in both the western and the eastern section of Germany. By contrast, the last two problems occur primarily in eastern Germany where a particularly large number of vocational training places are offered at schools and additional external training places are often made available just shortly before or shortly after the end of the reporting year (30 September).

In light of these methodological problems, only a rough calculation of the extent to which there was a substantial increase in the number of regular in-company training contracts in 2007 can be made using this data. Although the analyses this requires are somewhat more complex, they do show with a high degree of certainty that the number of in-company training contracts increased by several tens of thousands in 2007. At the same time, it is clear from these analyses that both the statistics on external training places reported to the Federal Employment Agency and the BIBB survey on new training contracts as of 30 September produced reliable findings.

Separate calculations have to be made for western and eastern Germany in order to resolve this supposed contradiction and reach an approximate estimate of the change in the number of in-company training contracts. Once again, please remember that these calculations can provide only approximate values due to the above-outlined methodological problems involved in integrating two different sets of data. 

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Assessment of the trends seen in in-company training contracts in western Germany

A closer look at conditions in western Germany reveals relatively quickly that the increase seen in the number of training contracts is on no account solely due to an increase in the use of external training places.

In western Germany, local employment agencies registered 29,112 more external training places in 2007 than in 2006. By contrast, the number of training contracts increased by a total of 48,601 (please see Chart 5). This means that even when the increase in the number of external training places is deducted, the regular training activities of companies, doctors', dentists' and lawyers' practices, and administrative bodies accounted for at least 19,000 to 20,000 additional training contracts during the reporting period from October 2006 through September 2007.

The regional breakdown in Chart 5 also shows that large portions of the increases seen in western Germany are attributable to additional training places generated by enterprises. This breakdown indicates that there was a noticeable increase in the number of new training contracts even in the seven regions in western Germany that reported a decline in the number of external training places.

However it is also apparent (from the "step" pattern in this table) that the overall increases in the number of training contracts in the 141 regions in western Germany and the computed changes in the number of reported external training places did not develop entirely independently of one another: The eight regions in which more than 500 additional external training places were recorded also reported the largest average total increase in new contracts. In those cases where the change in the number of reported external training places was not so large, the average increase in the number of new training contracts was also not as large.

Further analyses indicate that the growth in the number of new in-company training contracts in western Germany occurred primarily in the 47 regions with a better-than-average employment situation or a low unemployment rate (less than 6%). The number of new contracts in these regions increased by a total of 14,987. Here, more than 60% of the computed increase can probably be attributed to in-company training contracts (please see the upper section of Chart 6). By comparison, only a smaller portion (22% or less) of the increase (a total of 14,600 additional new contracts) observed in the 43 regions with an above-average unemployment rate of 9% or higher was due to an increase in the number of in-company training places being offered.

An analogous connection is apparent when the 141 regions are broken down by population density and level of urbanization (please see the lower section of Chart 6). This breakdown shows that the increases in the number of in-company training contracts occurred primarily in rural areas or medium-sized towns, whereas any increases seen in conurbations or large cities were due more to an increase in the number of external training places on offer.

The fact that additional external training places were so important, particularly in those parts of western Germany where the employment situation was more difficult and in large cities, reflects the targeted assistance policies pursued by the Federal Employment Agency and Germany's states. The reason: The number of older applicants is especially large in regions with high unemployment rates and in large cities. Furthermore, applicants who are foreign nationals - and applicants who are Turkish nationals in particular - are concentrated in major cities (please see Chart 7). As representative studies show, older applicants and applicants with an immigration background constitute special risk groups on the vocational training market. The provision of additional external training places is aimed first and foremost at improving their occupational prospects.

Looking at western Germany, this clearly proves that despite an increase in the assistance provided for external training places for problem groups on the training place market, large shares of the increase in the number of training contracts were due to an increase in the number of in-company training contracts. It can even be assumed that this increase is actually larger than the computed figures would indicate. The reason: Placement figures for young people who have landed an external training place with government assistance are usually lower than the number of training places made available for this purpose. However, this also means that the number of external training contracts to be subtracted from the total number of all new contracts will be smaller than the number used here (which is based on the number of reported training places). Consequently, the number of in-company training contracts ought to be correspondingly larger. It is therefore to be expected that enterprises account for considerably more than the half of the 48,601 additional new contracts in western Germany. More exact findings are expected from a separate analysis of the placement figures - which will however take several more weeks to complete.

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Assessment of the trends seen in in-company training contracts in eastern Germany

Although it is relatively easy to show that large shares of the increase in training contracts in western Germany during the reporting period from October 2006 through September 2007 were due to the creation of additional in-company training places, analyses for eastern Germany are more complicated. In addition, the computed source data are different: The total increase in training contracts amounted to just 1,160. However, 33,572 external training places were reported in 2006 and 53,054 in 2007 for a computed increase of 19,482 additional external training places. This is significantly more than the slight increase in the number of training contracts (please see Chart 8).

It cannot however be said on the basis of a comparison of these figures that the number of in-company contracts in eastern Germany has fallen off sharply and corresponding increases in the number of external training places have offset this negative development. It is more likely that the sharp increase in the number of external training places in 2007 was first and foremost the result of training places from the 2006 placement year that were recorded only after the cut-off date of 30 September 2006. The arithmetic consequences of this type of 'belated' entry are astonishing. It naturally reduces the total number of new contracts in the previous year by the same number that it increases the number of new contracts in the subsequent year. However, it also affects the rates of change for the two years differently, leading to unusually large increases in the following year. This is because the belatedly recorded contracts from the previous year are attributed to the following year but also because the base volumes from the previous year that are used to calculate the rate of change have also changed (are smaller). As a result, the current rate of change can be twice as high as the rate of change for the previous year (please see the fictitious example in the centre section of Chart 8).

The table at the bottom of Chart 8 shows that there have actually been developments like the one illustrated by the fictitious example. A total of ten regions produced a computed increase of some 16,000 additional reported external training places - largely the product of the follow-up placement activities in 2006 when a larger number of external training places were generated even after 30 September.

Looking at the eastern states, it must also be noted that in contrast to their western counterparts, it is not possible to establish any substantial correlation between the rates of change in the number of reported external training places on the one hand and the number of new training contracts on the other.⁷  This is a consequence of the problems involved in the use of a reference date which creates a situation in which not all of the reported training places and recorded training contracts are entered into the statistics for the same reporting year. As a result, it is no longer possible to estimate the number of contracts for regular in-company training by simply subtracting the number of reported external training places from the total number of all new training contracts.

And lastly, it must be pointed out once again that the reported external training places also include large numbers of school-based offerings that do not lead to a training contract. Consequently, these too should not be subtracted from the total number of new training contracts in order to estimate the number of contracts for regular in-company training.   

All in all, it is difficult to assess how in-company training contracts and external training contracts are developing in eastern Germany. It should not however be assumed that there have been substantial drops in the number of new contracts for regular in-company vocational training - on the contrary. The Ausbildungsmarktstatistik training market statistics issued by the Federal Employment Agency also indicate this because not only was a markedly larger number of external training places reported to the local employment agencies in eastern Germany in 2007, there were also more in-company training places reported (a total of 67,150 compared to 65,572 in 2006).⁸

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The trend seen in training places on offer

Based on Section 86 of the Vocational Training Act, the number of training places on offer is defined as the total number of new training contracts plus the "number of initial training places offered to the Federal Employment Agency for placement which were not filled on 30 September". The number of unfilled training places that had been registered with the Federal Employment Agency was 18,143 as of 30 September (2006: 15,387).  Adding this to the 625,914 new training contracts signed during the reporting period results in a total of 664,057 training places on offer - this is 52,517 more (+8.9%) than in the previous year.

Looking at the occupation patterns in the vocational training offered since 1994, it is clear that service occupations currently dominate Germany's dual vocational training system (please see Chart 9).

There were some 96,700 more training places on offer for service occupations than for manufacturing-related occupations in 2006/2007. The dual vocational training system evidently follows the structural change in the overall employment system quite closely.

This is also the case with regard to the total number of training places being offered. There is a definite correlation between this figure and the trends seen in employment that is subject to social insurance contributions (please see Chart 10). The positive trend on the employment market that began in May 2006 picked up pace as it continued into 2007. According to preliminary figures from the Federal Employment Agency, there were 576,800 more persons employed in September 2007 than in September 2006. The training market has followed this positive trend. In fact, the increase in the number of training places on offer in 2007 was even greater than was to be expected on the basis of the trend line. The reasons for this included the additional external training places that were generated in western Germany.

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Placement rates

A look at the past several years shows that the number of training places on offer during the first five years of this decade declined noticeably in the wake of negative employment growth (please see Chart 10). With just 562,816 training places on offer, the year 2005 marked the low point in this trend. This downward trend lasted until 2005 and had a particularly far-reaching impact because the number of pupils completing their general secondary schooling grew steadily between German reunification and the year 2006/2007.

As a consequence, the computed placement rate (the number of new training contracts per 100 school-leavers) fell from considerably more than 70 to not quite 59. Long-term experience with forecasting the level of the future demand for training places has given rise to the rule of thumb that the number of training places available is approximately sufficient when this rate remains stable at a minimum of 66% over a longer period.

This 'target level' was reached for the first time again in 2007 with a rate of 66.2% as the right-hand section of Chart 11 shows. This was the case in both the western states (66.0%) and the eastern states (66.7%).  Since the placement rate was substantially lower than the two-thirds mark during the first years of this decade, the positive development seen in 2007 was not enough to ensure an adequate number of training places to meet demand: The lower rates during the previous years generated a growing number of unplaced applicants from previous years (persons who could not be placed and were therefore carried over into the next training year). This group is not reflected in the curve shown in Chart 11 (because this chart was calculated solely on the basis of the number of school-leavers for the particular year and does not take unplaced applicants from previous years into consideration).

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Trend among unplaced applicants from previous years

During the last several years, the Federal Employment Agency registered a fast-growing number of training place applicants who had left secondary school at least one year before (please see Chart 12). Often called 'unplaced applicants from previous years', this subgroup comprised nearly 385,000 in 2007, with 281,000 coming from western Germany and 103,900 from eastern Germany. Today,unplaced applicants from previous years constitute the majority of all training place applicants in both the western states (51%) and the eastern states (56%). As in previous years, the chances of a carry-over applicant landing a training place in 2007 correlated with the amount of time that had passed since he/she left school. Applicants who were school-leavers in the previous year were more likely (61%) to start a vocational training programme (be it subsidized or not) and remain in it. By contrast, placement rates were lower for applicants from the current year's crop of school-leavers (51%) and applicants who had left school more than one year ago (53%). However, the comparatively good prospects that unplaced applicants from previous years have for finding a training place during the 2007 placement year were largely due to the creation of more external training options. Looking at in-company vocational training, unplaced applicants from previous years were much less successful in landing a training place than applicants who had finished their secondary schooling in 2007. This was also the case for that group of carry-over applicants who completed secondary school just one year before.

Looking at the placement statistics from the local employment agencies (which are based on the training place applicants registered with the individual agencies), it is clear that placing applicants in vocational training programmes that receive no government assistance is particularly difficult in those regions where the number of unplaced applicants from previous years is disproportionately high. Since unplaced applicants from previous years are already somewhat older, there is a similarly negative correlation between the placement rate and the share of applicants who are already 20 years of age or older. However, a negative correlation can also be observed between large shares of applicants who are foreign nationals and successful placement. In addition to correlations with personal attributes, statistics also reveal that placement rates are very dependent on the conditions in the respective regional labour and training markets and on the level of urbanization. It is particularly difficult to find in-company training places for registered applicants in large cities and regions with above-average unemployment rates or a below-average number of in-company training places on offer ¹¹ (please see Chart 13 with its corresponding analyses for the 141 regions in western Germany ).

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'Placement balance sheet' for the Federal Employment Agency

Looking at the nation as a whole, the Federal Employment Agency's 'placement balance sheet' for 2007 shows that until 30 September it had been possible to place 622,708 (85%) of the 734,276 training place applicants registered with the Federal Employment Agency. A total of 319,788 ended up with a training place. Another 157,506 opted for an alternative (e.g. returned to school, enrolled in a vocational preparation programme, began work) and (for the time being) no longer wished to be placed. The remaining 145,414 waived any further assistance with the search for a training place and did not provide any information regarding their current situation.

The local employment agencies were still working to place 111,568 training place seekers (15%) as of 30 September 2007. Of this group, 82,466 had found an alternative in the meantime, and 29,102 had nothing at all. A total of 12,083 persons of the 82,466 were already undergoing vocational training but were looking for a different training place. When this subgroup is disregarded, there were 99,485 applicants who had not found a training place as of 30 September and still wished to be placed. 

A regional breakdown of the placement results by western and eastern states offers a few surprises: Today, the share of applicants who land up with a training place, be it subsidized or not, is larger in eastern Germany (51%) than in western Germany (41%). The eastern half of the country keeps this 'lead' even when just the placement rate for unsubsidized vocational training is examined (eastern states: 41%, western states: 38%). This finding does not however mean that there are now more in-company training places for young people in eastern Germany than in western Germany. There are two reasons why this is not the case: Firstly, in contrast to the statistics on training contracts, the placement rates of applicants who are registered with the Federal Employment Agency are calculated on the basis of the individual's place of residence. This means that when a youth from the eastern part of the country is successfully placed in an in-company training place in one of Germany's western states, the statistics classify this as a "placement in an unsubsidized training place".¹³  And secondly, it must be taken into account that successful training place seekers in the eastern states made much greater use of the services of their local employment agencies than their counterparts in the western states did.¹⁴  As a result, placement rates are higher in eastern Germany and lower in western Germany.

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Outlook for the coming years

The number of school-leavers from schools offering a general education will decline sharply in Germany in the coming years. In fact, 2008 will see 33,500 fewer school-leavers than in 2007. This decline will be greater in eastern Germany (where the number of school-leavers will fall by half during the period 2000 - 2013) than in western Germany: - 12.4% and - 3.5% respectively. In the western half of the country, the number of school-leavers will remain relatively high during the next few years in the wake of the growing numbers of upper secondary school leavers plus the fact that some states will have double cohorts of upper secondary school-leavers when they shorten the duration of secondary school by one year from 13 to 12 years.

However, when upper secondary school leavers are left out of the picture and the focus is restricted to school-leavers who are not qualified to enter university (a group that still comprises some 85% of all first-year trainees), it becomes clear that the pool of potential trainees for the dual vocational training system will start to shrink substantially in western Germany as well starting next year (please see Chart 14).

As a result of this situation, the recruiting problems already facing German enterprises will become much more acute. The number of training places that have been reported to the Federal Employment Agency but could not be filled by 30 September has been on the rise again since 2006 (2005: 12,636: 2006: 15,387; 2007: 18,143). Vacant training places however still represented not quite 3% of all officially ascertained training places on offer in 2007.¹⁵  This share has already reached 10% or more in some regions where the employment situation is good, such as the Bavarian regions of Traunstein (8.9%), Memmingen (9.6%) and Ansbach (14.1%). Countering the growing regional, occupational and sectoral imbalances on the training market will be an increasingly urgent challenge in the future.

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Relevant literature

• Beicht, Ursula; Friedrich, Michael; Ulrich, Joachim Gerd
  Deutlich längere Dauer bis zum Ausbildungseinstieg: Schulabsolventen auf Lehrstellensuche
  Bielefeld: Bertelsmann, 2007
  (BIBB REPORT 2/07)
  ISSN 1865-0821 and at http://www.bibb.de/de/30483.htm
• Bundesagentur für Arbeit
  Arbeitsmarkt in Zahlen. Statistik zum Ausbildungsstellenmarkt. Bewerber und Berufsausbildungsstellen. Berichtsjahr 2006/07
  Nürnberg: Bundesagentur für Arbeit, 2007
  and http://www.bibb.de/de/wlk29602.htm
• Granato, Mona
  Junge Frauen und Männer mit Migrationshintergrund: Ausbildung adé?
  In: INBAS (Ed.): Jugendliche mit Migrationshintergrund im Übergang Schule - Beruf (Berichte und Materialien, Bd. 15). Offenbach am Main: INBAS, 2006,
   pp. 32-42.
  ISBN 978-3-932428-47-0 
• Troltsch, Klaus; Walden, Günter
  Beschäftigungssystem dominiert zunehmend Ausbildungsstellenmarkt. Zur Responsivität des dualen Ausbildungssystems
  In: Berufsbildung in Wissenschaft und Praxis 36 (2007) 4, S. 5-9
  ISSN 0341-4515
• Uhly, Alexandra; Granato, Mona
  Werden ausländische Jugendliche aus dem dualen System der Berufsausbildung verdrängt?
  In: Berufsbildung in Wissenschaft und Praxis 35 (2006) 3, pp. 51-55
  ISSN 0341-4515
• Ulrich, Joachim Gerd; Ehrenthal, Bettina; Häfner, Elfriede
  Regionale Mobilitätsbereitschaft und Mobilität der Ausbildungsstellenbewerber.
  In: Eberhard, Verena; Krewerth, Andreas; Ulrich; Joachim Gerd [Eds.]:
  Mangelware Lehrstelle. Zur aktuellen Lage der Ausbildungsplatzbewerber in Deutschland
  Bielefeld: W. Bertelsmann, 2006, pp. 99-120
  (Berichte zur beruflichen Bildung; H. 279)
  ISBN 3-7639-1087-5
• Ulrich, Joachim Gerd; Eberhard, Verena; Krekel, Elisabeth M.
  Der Aufschwung auf dem Ausbildungsmarkt schreitet weiter voran - an vielen Lehrstellenbewerbern in den Großstädten geht er jedoch vorbei
• Ulrich, Joachim Gerd; Krekel, Elisabeth M.
  Welche Ausbildungschancen haben "Altbewerber"?
  In: Berufsbildung in Wissenschaft und Praxis 36 (2007) 2, pp. 11-13
  ISSN 0341-4515
• Ulrich, Joachim Gerd; Krekel, Elisabeth M.
  Zur Situation der Altbewerber - Ergebnisse der BA/BIBB-Bewerberbefragung 2006
  Bielefeld: Bertelsmann, 2007
  (BIBB REPORT 1/07)
  ISSN 1865-0821
• Walden, Günter (Ed.)
  Qualifikationsentwicklung im Dienstleistungsbereich: Herausforderungen für das duale System der Berufsausbildung
  Bielefeld: Bertelsmann, 2007
  (Schriftenreihe / Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung)
  ISBN 978-3-7639-1097-7

footnotes:

01 These are the preliminary findings (as of: 12 December 2007) from the BIBB survey on new training contracts as of 30 September 2007. Please see the German-language press release of the Federal Ministry of  Education and Research at http://www.bmbf.de/press/2201.php.
02 This figure includes 29,100 individuals who had neither started vocational training nor found an alternative option. Some 70,400 had at least found an alternative but still wanted to start a vocational training programme during the same year and therefore still wanted to make use of the Federal Employment Agency's placement services.
03 For more information regarding the differences between the BIBB survey on new training contracts as of 30 September and the Berufsbildungsstatistik vocational training statistics which the Federal Employment Agency issues as of 31 December, please see http://www.bibb.de/en/18599.htm.
04 When interpreting the findings when broken down by sector it must be remembered that the actual training provided in the respective training sector does not have to tally with the findings that are based on counts from the individual sector.  For example, in the states of Schleswig-Holstein and Hesse, the Chambers of Industry and Commerce are also the relevant bodies for the domestic science training sector. Additionally, a clear delineation of the training sector is not always possible. Furthermore, training contracts that the public sector or the independent professions concluded for 'training occupations' (i.e., occupations that require completion of formal vocational training) that 'belong' to trade and industry or the skilled trades are not attributed to the public sector or respective independent profession but rather are counted along with the other training contracts concluded in trade and industry or the skilled trades. It is estimated that the public sector provides approximately twice as many training places for recognized training occupations as it does for the occupations for which it is specifically responsible.
05 According to initial preliminary analyses, the number of new training contracts that trade and industry or the skilled trades concluded for occupations that require two years of vocational training increased by 7,500 (+16.1%) to 54,000. As a result, the share of new two-year training contracts grew from 8.1% to 8.6%. The reference base used here is the total number of new training contracts in all seven sectors.
06 The relative change seen in eastern Germany's 35 regions in 2007 ranged between -17.0% and +17.2% with a standard deviation of SD = 7.9 percentage points (western Germany: between -5.3% and +21.9% with a standard deviation of 4.7 percentage points). At the same time, the relative change in the eastern regions exhibited a marked negative correlation (r = -0.69) with the rates of change reported in 2006 (western Germany: r = -0.26).
07 In the nine east German regions where the number of reported external training places fell, the number of new training contracts also fell by an average of 156 contracts while in the six regions where the number of reported external training places increased by between 1 and 200 training places on average, the number of training contracts rose by an average of 100 contracts. However in the seven regions where an average of 200 to 500 more external training places were recorded, the total number of new training contracts increased by an average of just 31 additional contracts. In the 13 regions where an average of 500 more external training places were registered than in 2006, the number of new contracts increased by an average of just 134 contracts.
08 In the case of in-company training places, the 30 September reference date did not pose a problem for attributing them to the correct placement and reporting periods.
09 The figure cited here for the number of still vacant training places deviates slightly from the figure (18,359) that the Federal Employment Agency published because only those training places were counted here that could clearly be attributed to a particular region and a specific occupation.
10   In actual fact, the rate for eastern Germany is even somewhat higher because the number of new training contracts for persons who commute to the western half of the country for their training was included in the balance sheet for western Germany due to the counting system that classifies new training contracts according to the location of the company providing the training.
11 Defined as the computed number of in-company training places on offer per 100 training place seekers.
Here the number of training place seekers is made up of the number of youths with new training contracts and the number of training place seekers registered with the Federal Employment Agency who were not undergoing vocational training as of 30 September and still wanted to be placed.
12 The correlation analysis was limited to the west German regions in order to avoid the above-outlined attribution-related problems (concluding training places before and after the 30 September reference date) seen in the east German regions.
13  It is expected that several thousand first-year trainees from eastern Germany found a training place in western Germany in 2007 as well (with a general downward trend). More exact numbers on this are not yet available
14 In eastern Germany there were 94,224 applicants who were registered with the Federal Employment Agency and ended up with a (subsidized or unsubsidized) training place while the number new training contracts totaled 125,098. Registered training place seekers thus represented an unadjusted share of 75%. Of the training place seekers who were registered with the Federal Employment Agency, 225,503 ended up with a training place, whereas the total number of new training contracts was 500,816. This calculates into a share of 45%. Even when one takes into account that several thousand of the training place seekers who were registered in eastern Germany probably found a training place in western Germany, the eastern half of the country would still have the higher placement rate for local training places.
15 Surveys of enterprises that provide in-company vocational training show that the actual number of training places for which companies were unable to find suitable applicants is actually much higher

Erscheinungsdatum und Hinweis Deutsche Nationalbibliothek

Publication on the Internet: January 10, 2008

URN: urn:nbn:de:0035-0226-3

Deutsche Nationalbibliothek has archived the electronic publication "Clear progress seen in reducing shortage of training places in 2007", which is now permanently available on the archive server of Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.

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Last modified on: November 29, 2011