Print version Recommend this page Press release
24/ 2011
Bonn, 18.05.2011
16 new occupations to be launched - "Tap the potential of all young people"
BIBB marks Training Place Day
The Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) helps ensure that Germany has a modern vocational training scene by revising training occupations (regulated occupations that require completion of formal vocational training). This is one of BIBB's 'trademarks'. It has revamped and updated 15 occupations and created one new occupation. All of them, including the occupations Optician, Bookbinder and "Medientechnolge/-in Siebdruck" (media technologist for screen printing), are to take effect at the start of the new vocational training year on 1 August 2011.
Speaking on the occasion of Training Place Day which is being observed today, BIBB's president Professor Dr Friedrich Hubert Esser called upon enterprises and youths: "A successful transition from secondary school to vocational training is as important for youths as it is for trade, industry and society. It is therefore vital that we join together and tap into young people's strengths to ensure that no youth is left behind. Our motto must be 'make use of all potential'! I urge young people to inform themselves thoroughly about the many options our vocational training system has to offer."
Thanks to the strong economy and the growing number of training places on offer, youths' chances of landing a training place continue to improve this year despite the additional demand for training places (arising from a change in the secondary school system that has led to two age cohorts leaving school this year, the suspension of compulsory military service and the opening of the labour market to new EU Member States). BIBB expects that nearly 620,000 training places will be offered in Germany in 2011 0 up to 40,000 more than in 2010.
This positive development can already be seen in the monthly training place market statistics issued by the Federal Employment Agency. As of April 30, there were 100 registered training place seekers for every 95 reported training places 0 an increase of more than 10 per cent over April 2010. In Germany's eastern states where the number of training place seekers is on the decline, there are 0 for the first time ever 0 more training places than applicants. These figures indicate that markedly more applicants have been able to find a training place this year and that it has been possible to substantially reduce the number of youths who are still looking for a training place at the start of the new training year. This figure was approximately 85,000 in 2010.
Despite the anticipated increase in the number of training places being offered, efforts must be intensified, BIBB's President Esser pointed out, to ensure that all school leavers who are interested in undergoing vocational training make the transition from secondary school to the vocational training system more quickly and efficiently. Only when this is achieved, Esser continued, will it be possible to further reduce the share of young adults who have no formal vocational qualification and to ensure a sufficient number of young skilled workers for trade and industry.
