Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (BIBB)

An overview of development on the training market

566,004 new training contracts were concluded across the whole of Germany in the period from 1 October 2008 to 30 September 2009. This represents a fall of 50,338, or 8.2%, compared to the previous year. In West Germany, the figure fell by 35,598, or -7.1%, to 467,006. East Germany saw a decrease of 14,740, or -13.0%, to 98,998 (cf. Table 1).

The above presents the results of the BIBB survey of newly concluded training contracts as of 30 September 2009.

The BIBB survey as of 30 September is conducted annually on the basis of the Vocational Training Act (BBiG) and takes place with the direct cooperation of the competent bodies responsible for vocational education and training. The survey takes account of all training contracts newly concluded and not prematurely dissolved between 1 October of the previous year and 30 September of the current year. The competent bodies transmit reports on newly concluded training contracts to BIBB by the end of November. Initial evaluation results are available as early as mid-December. The data is made available in tabular form on BIBB's Internet site and is used for the Report on Vocational Education and Training published by the Federal Government and for the BIBB Data Report which accompanies the Report on Vocational Education and Training. The survey is differentiated according to individual occupations, and contract figures are collected at district Federal Employment Agency level. Subsequent contracts are recorded separately.⁰¹ In contrast to the practice followed by the vocational education and training statistics published by the Federal Statistical Office (StBA), subsequent contracts are not included within the total number of newly concluded contracts, the reason for this being that they are usually of less than 24 months' duration.⁰² The data from the BIBB survey as of 30 September can be combined with the placement statistics of the Federal Employment Agency (BA) which are collated at the end of September. This enables important information on market events and on the development of training place supply and demand to be obtained promptly.

 

The main reasons for the considerable decrease in the number of training contracts during the reporting year of 2009⁰³ are the economic crisis and the significant demographic decline. The economic crisis has brought about a decrease of 52,590 in the number of training places provided in Germany as a whole. This was, however, accompanied by a significant reduction in the number of school leavers from general or partly qualifying vocational schools (cf. also FEDERAL STATISTICAL OFFICE 2009) and in the number of "unplaced applicants" (training placed applicants who left school in previous years) registered with the Federal Employment Agency (cf. Table 2).

These decreases have already been exerting an effect in East Germany in particular over the course of the preceding years. The number of general school leavers not in possession of a higher education entrance qualification, the main clientele of dual vocational education and training, decreased by 13.1%, or 12,034, and now stands at only 79,802. Eight years ago, in 2001, there were as many as 175,163 such school leavers. The development in East Germany was exacerbated by the fact that the significant demographic decline which occurred after German reunification in 1990 has now become discernable amongst upper secondary school leavers. The number of upper secondary school leavers in possession of a higher education entrance qualification fell by -11,270, or -17.3%, to only 54,030.

Although the number of general school leavers in possession of a higher education entrance qualification rose once again in West Germany (by +9,916, or +4.8%, to 217,090), this increase was significant exceeded by the decrease in qualified and unqualified school leavers not in possession of a higher education entrance qualification (by -20.591, or -3.8% to 522,182). The pressure on the training market situation in the western part of the country was also considerably relieved by the much lower figure of unplaced training applicants registered with the employment agencies and the training networks⁰⁴ who had left school during the previous year or in earlier years.

The reasons for the unexpectedly low number of unplaced applicants from previous years (to this extent) are not precisely discernable at the present time. The Federal Employment Agency states  that a change to the way in which data is collected makes it impossible to conduct a clear comparison to the previous year with regard to the identification of applicants who left school in previous years  (cf. FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT AGENCY 2009a). Alongside statistical reasons, however, it is likely that the number of unplaced applicants from previous years has also decreased owing to an improved situation on the training market in previous years and because young people have tended to adopt a different behavioural approach to applying for and seeking a training place. The fact that extremely professional Internet-based provision is now in place to offer career choice support and assistance in finding a training place may also have led to the reduction in the number of young people registering as training place applicants with the Federal Employment Agency over the course of recent years.⁰⁵ This even affected young people who ultimately failed in their attempt to find a training place (cf. Section 3).

If we now compare the number of training contracts newly concluded in 2009 with the total number of school leavers and unplaced applicants from previous years whilst also taking account of the demand potential resulting from these groups, it is probably fair to say that overall training opportunities for young people in Germany remained at least at the same level as in the previous year despite the considerable decrease in the number of contracts. This has even led to a further improvement in provision in East Germany, whereas provision in West Germany is likely to have turned out to be somewhat less favourable than in 2008. In overall terms, demographic development has thus been able to compensate for the negative effects exerted on the training market by the financial and economic crisis.⁰⁶ 

Notwithstanding this, many young people continued to experience difficulty in finding an in-company training place in 2009. At the end of the reporting year (end of September 2009), the employment agencies and training networks across Germany still had 83,059 training place applicants on their books for whom placement efforts were ongoing (2008: 96,325). 17,255 vacant in-company training places were available to accommodate these applicants (2008: 19,507). There were also approximately a further 10,000 young people registered with local government providers as training place applicants and for whom placement efforts had also not yet been concluded by the end of September. ⁰⁷ This meant that in overall terms the number of training place applicants yet to find an apprenticeship still far outstripped the number of training places registered as still vacant at the end of the reporting year (cf. Table 3).

Placement of the 93,179 training place applicants still seeking a training place at the end of the ⁰⁸ predominantly took place via replacement provision. It proved possible to find an alternative to fully qualifying vocational education and training for 76,740 of these applicants by as early as the end of September 2009. In 36.7% of cases, this involved a return to school or an internship. 37.7% were placed in support measures (such as vocational preparation schemes or introductory qualification programmes).  10.9% went into employment, and a further 10.9% continued a vocational training course they had already commenced⁰⁹ In 3.8% of cases, young people went on to charitable or community work (see Section 4.2.1).

In the subsequent placement process, both vacant training places and in-company introductory qualifications places were available to the 16,439 applicants for whom it had not proved possible to find any vocational training provision or alternative at the end of the reporting year (so-called "unplaced applicants"). 15,781 such places were reported to the Federal Employment Agency between the beginning of October and the end of November 2009. Of these places, 11,409 remained vacant at the end of November (cf. FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT AGENCY 2009c). By this stage, 926, or 5.6%, of the 16,439 originally "unplaced applicants" had progressed to a VET training place. Placement efforts for a further 2,642, or 19.3%, could be brought to an end because these applicants has either found an alternative and were no longer interested in placement or because their destinations were unknown. Placement efforts continued for 12,339, or 75.1%. In 2,060 cases, there were indications that applicants had already found a possible alternative destination (cf. FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT AGENCY 2009d).
Notwithstanding the economic crisis and despite the considerable reduction in the number of contracts on the training market, it is fair to summarise that the situation on the training market did not deteriorate in 2009. In relative terms, the provision available to young people was not lower than that in the corresponding period of the previous year, and the number of young people for whom placement efforts were still ongoing at the end of the reporting year showed a decrease. Nevertheless, this did not mean that the pressure on the training market could be stated as having eased. At the end of the reporting year, the number of training place applicants still seeking a training place far outweighed the amount of training places still vacant. In many cases, "placement" of young people initially continued to take place via replacement provision such as a return to school, commencement of an introductory qualification scheme programme or vocational preparation scheme.

1.1.1 The complete German language text of the article is available here (last updated 21 December 2009).

Im Zeichen von Wirtschaftskrise und demografischem Einbruch: Die Entwicklung des Ausbildungsmarktes im Jahr 2009

BIBB-Erhebung über neu abgeschlossene Ausbildungsverträge zum 30. September
Joachim Gerd Ulrich, Simone Flemming, Ralf-Olaf Granath, Elisabeth M. Krekel

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Lesen Sie hier den kompletten Beitrag:

Im Zeichen von Wirtschaftskrise und demografischem Einbruch: Die Entwicklung des Ausbildungsmarktes im Jahr 2009
BIBB-Erhebung über neu abgeschlossene Ausbildungsverträge zum 30. September
Joachim Gerd Ulrich, Simone Flemming, Ralf-Olaf Granath, Elisabeth M. Krekel

footnotes:

⁰¹ "Subsequent contracts" are training contracts which are newly concluded following previous and completed vocational education and training and which lead to a further qualification. The only contracts taken into consideration in this regard are, however, such contracts as are defined as continuation training occupations in the training regulations (usually entry to the third year of training) or contracts which are stated to be a "Continuation of vocational training".
⁰² For more detailed (German language) information on the differences between the survey of newly concluded training contracts as of 30 September and vocational education and training statistics as of 31 December, please also see UHLY et al. (2009), available online at http://www.bibb.de/dokumente/pdf/a21_ausweitstat_methodenpapier-vergleich-BIBB-StBA-2009.pdf
⁰³ In the absence of any express indication to the contrary, all mention below to the "reporting year" or "year" refers to the period from 1 October of the previous year to 30 September of the current year.
⁰⁴ These training networks are known by the German acronym "ARGE" (= Arbeitsgemeinschaft) and are jointly run by the employment agencies and the basic social security providers (cf. footnote 4 for more detail).
⁰⁵ Mention should be made here of such resources as the portal www.planet-beruf.de which since its launch  in the autumn of 2008 has recorded more than 37 million hits and 3.7 million users.
⁰⁶ The renewed increase in the number of people entering higher education may also have been a contributory factor here. According to the initial preliminary figures issued by the Federal Statistical Office, 423,298 young people commenced a course of higher education study in 2009. The corresponding figure for 2008 was 396,800
⁰⁷ Pursuant to § 35 German Social Security Code III (SGB III), both "the employment agencies and basic social security providers (.) are required to conduct training placement (.). Basic social security providers may also exercise this task via the employment agencies (§ 16 Paragraph 4 SGB II). It has hitherto only been possible to publish statistics relating to this based on data from the employment agencies and the training networks originating from the specialist procedures conducted by the Federal Employment Agency (BA). The first results produced by the authorised local government providers relating to VET training place applicants and capable of evaluation have been available from October 2008" (FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT AGENCY 2009b). The overall total of 555,650 training place applicants for the reporting year 2009 registered by the agencies, training networks and authorised local government providers include, however, 1,807 (0.3%) duplicate names of applicants registered by both the agencies and the authorised local government providers and demonstrably present within the two IT procedures. Such "duplications arise as a result of such factors as indigence as defined within the meaning of German Social Security Code II (SGB II) when an applicant has sought to find training via an employment agency or when the opposite process has taken place as a result of the cessation of indigence" (FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT AGENCY 2009b). The clear removal of such duplications is not currently possible. They may, however, be safely neglected by dint of their limited scope.
⁰⁸ This figure contains 713 duplications (0.8%). 87 of these cases of duplication were identified both by the agencies and by the authorised local government providers as persons seeking ongoing placement, 525 were solely recorded by the authorised local government providers and 101 solely by the employment agencies (cf. FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT AGENCY 2009b).
⁰⁹ This involves young people who are already engaged in fully qualifying vocational education and training and had sought to use this as the basis for seeking a new training place. The number of such young people in 2009 was 8,393. 83.2% were taking part in state-funded ("extra-company") training.

Erscheinungsdatum und Hinweis Deutsche Nationalbibliothek

Publication on the Internet: January 12, 2010

URN: urn:nbn:de.0035-0408-0

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Last modified on: January 25, 2010