Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (BIBB)

According to the data provided by the 2007 micro-census, around 5.3 million people stated that they had not completed vocational education and training. Men and women each accounted for half of this figure (50.8% and 49.2% respectively). By far the largest group of unskilled members of the active working population, a total of 83%, were in possession of a general school leaving certificate. Three in four unskilled workers (71.8%) had obtained a lower or intermediate secondary school leaving certificate. 11.5% were in possession of a higher education entrance qualification. One in six had no school leaving qualifications at all.

Information on method adopted The survey method deployed in the microcensus was altered in 2005, and this is expected to deliver improved statistical information on the population and active employment in overall terms. This change has, however, also impacted on data relating to non-formally qualified persons. The reason for this is the mandatory requirement to provide information in response to the question on vocational qualification. In previous microcensuses, this response was voluntary for those aged over 50. Only 1% of those surveyed failed to respond to this question in 2005, whereas the corresponding figure for 2004 was 9%. The additional information obtained on vocational qualification mainly affected respondents without a vocational qualification. This meant that the figure for non-formally qualified persons as a proportion of the population aged over 15 went up by around 5% compared with 2004 (REINBERG/HUMMEL 2007, p. 10). The assumption is that there was also a significant increase in the figure for non-formally qualified persons as a proportion of the resident population in 2005 due to the more precise recording of information. This also has consequences for time comparisons. Results from 2005 onwards are only comparable with those of previous years to a limited extent.

Considerable structural differences are exhibited with regard to school qualifications compared to formally qualified persons, especially in respect of persons without any school leaving qualifications (0.4% of formally qualified persons as opposed to 16.0% of unskilled workers) and respect of persons with a higher education entrance qualification (32.3% and 11.5% respectively). The proportion of unskilled workers with a qualification below the level of a higher education entrance qualification (72%) is similar to the corresponding proportion of persons in active employment with a vocational qualification (68%).

54% of unskilled workers were in active employment (see Table 1), almost two thirds of men and just under half of women. The proportions for those without a vocational qualification but in possession of a higher education entrance qualification were higher (77%). Participation in active employment by unskilled workers who have also not acquired a school leaving certificate is considerably lower at 44%.

By way of contrast, members of the working age population with a vocational qualification exhibited significantly higher levels of active employment of just over three in four. This applied to an even greater extent to persons in possession of a higher education entrance qualification. Although a lower proportion of those without school leaving qualifications but able to demonstrate a vocational qualification, something which applied to a minority of persons with a vocational qualification, were in active employment, they were still - by a great distance in some cases - more likely to be employed compared to the proportions identified for unskilled workers without any school leaving qualifications.

An adverse development in employment is also displayed for unskilled workers if the proportions of unskilled workers in active employment are compared with holders of a vocational qualification of the same age on the basis of age. Although the microcensus does not permit any conclusion to be made as to the course of individual working lives, it provides an insight into age and qualifications related rates of employment (persons in active employment compared to the working age population).

Unskilled men and unskilled women both display significantly lower rates of active employment. The difference in participation in active employment is even more clearly marked in the case of women than in the case of men. Three in four women aged 30 with a vocational qualification were in active employment, whereas the corresponding figure for unskilled women was not even one in two. The latter reach a rate of active employment of around 60% for a brief period, but not until after time spent bringing up their families. The corresponding proportion for women with a vocational qualification is around 20 percentage points higher.

For men with a vocational qualification, active employment is the prevalent form via which living costs are covered. Over 90% of those aged from their early thirties to late forties are in active employment. By way of contrast, only 75% of unskilled men are in active employment. The up-and-down nature of the continuous data applying to non-formally qualified persons also indicates discontinuous phases of employment and thus suggests that occupational histories are precacrious⁰⁴ .

Of all persons in active employment in 2007, around 17% - or just under 4.6 million in absolute terms - hat no vocational qualifications. One in seven unskilled persons in active employment (14.5%) had also left school without achieving a school leaving qualification. By way of contrast, persons in active employment who had completed vocational education and training were virtually all in possession of a school leaving qualification. This can, however, also be achieved via successful completion of VET.⁰⁵ The supposition here is that persons in active employment who has not achieved any school leaving qualifications did not generally progress to a vocational qualification after leaving school.

Young unskilled workers

The group of younger unskilled workers is of particular significance in terms of educational and employment policy by dint of the fact that they have a longer working life of between 30 and 40 years ahead of them. In the light of demographic development and the shortage of skilled workers which is already becoming apparent in many branches of trade and industry, there is a major societal opportunity to provide these workers who remain unskilled with second chance qualification via appropriate initial and continuing training in order to stabilise their occupational and employment histories.

This opportunity has not been exploited or not sufficiently exploited in the past. The microcensus surveys of the 20 to 34 age group identified far in excess of 2 million young people⁰⁶ without a training qualification. The rate of unskilled persons remained stable at approximately 15% over a period of many years. This represented a clear failure to meet the policy target of the European Council (Presidency Conclusions, Lisbon European Council 23.3./24.3.2000, No. 26) - in this case relating to the 18 to 24 age group - of halving the proportion of unskilled workers by 2010.

The 20 to 34 age group (just under 15 million), who have a long phase as active members of the working population ahead of them, included 2.24 unskilled workers, of whom 1.2 million were in active employment. Their rate of active employment (see Table 1) was 52.3%, far more than 20 percentage points below the corresponding proportion for holders of a vocational qualification of the same age (76.1%). The 20 to 34 age group also exhibits clear differences in the employment participation of unskilled women (41.8%) and men (63.1%). This means that unskilled men are more than 20 percent more likely to participate in employment.

Of 20 to 34 year-old's in active employment, only 11.5% were not in possession of a vocational qualification. The number of unskilled people as a proportion of all those in active employment is only slightly higher.

Unskilled workers include a noticeably higher proportion of young men than of young women (12.8% and 10.0% respectively). Persons of all age groups in active employment, on the other hand, displayed a somewhat higher proportion of unskilled workers in overall terms than was the case with younger workers as well as including a significantly higher proportion of women (women 13.2%, men 11.2%). The smaller proportion of unskilled workers in the case of younger persons in active employment makes it clear that young people's employment activity is more strongly dependent on successfully completing a vocational qualification.

Three in four young unskilled workers are in employment subject to full mandatory social insurance contributions⁰⁷,⁰⁸ (Figure 2). This applies to an even greater extent for those who have learned an occupation, in respect of whom the corresponding proportion is around 10 percentage points higher.

One in eleven (9%) of unskilled workers in the age group forming the object of investigation described themselves as self-employed. Unskilled workers thus exhibited a higher proportion of self-employed persons than those with a vocational qualification.

Almost four in five younger men in active employment are in jobs subject to full mandatory social insurance contributions. In the case of women, this proportion is significantly lower at just under two thirds. 

17.7% of young unskilled workers were employed in jobs where they worked for only a small number of hours each month and which are subject to flat-rate deductions. The equivalent proportion was considerably lower at 5.4% for those who had learned an occupation. Clear gender specific differences were also brought to light in this regard. The level of jobs in which only a small number of hours is worked each month and which are subject to flat-rate deductions is noticeably high in the case of women (see Table 2).

A disproportionately large amount of this sort of employment is especially exhibited by the cohorts of those aged between 30 and 34.⁰⁹ In the case of women, the proportion of employment in which only a small number of hours is worked each month and which are subject to flat-rate deductions tends to rise as they become older.

By way of contrast, the development shown by those with a higher education entrance qualification is the reverse. Although such persons are disproportionately more likely to work in jobs in which only a small number of hours is worked each month and which are subject to flat-rate deductions, this rate more than halves by the time they reach the age of 25 and then remains under the starting level as well as under the values exhibited by those with a lower level of school education. It is clear that many of those with a higher education entrance qualification succeed in entering the initial labour market without a vocational qualification. Working in jobs in which only a small number of hours is worked each month and which are subject to flat-rate deductions is also not an issue in the case of the majority of unskilled men in active employment, who display significantly lower levels of participation in such employment across all age groups than is the case with women. Even the group of those aged between 20 to 24, the youngest cohort forming the object of investigation, displays a proportion which is in single figures. This then reduces considerably in the next age group (25 to 29).

There is a high concentration of non-formally qualified persons in a few branches of trade and industry. Three in four unskilled workers are employed in 16 of around 60 branches of trade and industry as defined under the 2-figure code of the WZ 2003¹⁰ . Half of all non-formally qualified persons work in only seven branches of trade and industry. The five branches with the highest numbers of unskilled young adults in active employment are the hotel and restaurant trade (11.5%), the healthcare, veterinary services and social services sector (11.2%), retail (10.8%),  "provision of other economic services" (9.8%) and the construction industry (5.5%).

This concentration is even more clearly revealed if the unskilled workers are not in possession of a school leaving qualification. In this case, the high proportion of unskilled workers in the healthcare, veterinary services and social services sector is particularly noticeable.  29% of unskilled workers in active employment and without a school leaving qualification are concentrated within this branch of trade and industry alone.

A broader spectrum of economic branches is available to those in possession of a higher education entrance qualification. In their case, there is a stronger focus on branches which are mainly characterised by qualified staff and more demanding tasks (education and teaching, data processing and databases, culture, sport, entertainment, publishing and commission trading). These are areas in which those in possession of a higher education entrance qualification find employment opportunities despite their unskilled status.

Unskilled workers in active employment within the age group forming the object of investigation are to be found in virtually all occupational categories, some 360 in number¹¹ . This spectrum of occupations was, however, relatively highly concentrated. Half of all unskilled workers are in 16 occupational categories, and the ten most popular categories make up a proportion of around 40%.

In the case of unskilled workers without school leaving qualifications, half of all those in active employment are located in only eight occupations (occupational categories). These are essentially cleaning occupations, warehousing and transport occupations and occupations in the hotel and restaurant trade and gardening.

Young adults in possession of a higher education entrance qualification display a significantly larger and more broadly spread selection of occupations (mean of 23 occupational categories). This group of unskilled workers exhibits a clearly more significant trend towards self-employment as well as embracing occupations featuring a focus on occupations with higher and more complex requirements. Occupational categories to be mentioned in this regard include entrepreneur, managing director, software developer and journalist, all of which are amongst the ten most popular occupational categories for this group and which virtually make no appearance at all in the case of the other unskilled workers in active employment.

With regard to employment occupations, the results of the 2006 Employee Survey conducted by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) and the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) also reveal similar occupational structures for unskilled workers. Unskilled workers in active employment stated that the main activities they most frequently exercised were "working with computers", "cleaning", "removing and recycling waste", "providing advice and information", "measuring, checking, quality control" and "transport, warehousing and dispatch". The activities "working with computers", "providing advice and information" and "collecting, researching and documenting" are predominantly activities exercised by workers in possession of a higher education entrance qualification.

Results of occupational field related projections¹²
Current Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) and Institute for Employment Research (IAB) projections up until the year 2025 show that requirements for non-formally qualified persons will fall slightly compared to other qualification levels whilst the active working age population will virtually remain at the same level. This does not, however, apply to occupational fields in which there is a dominant representation of persons in active employment who do not have a vocational qualification. In this case, the expectation is that requirements will remain at the same level. Because unskilled workers also move to other occupational fields in which they also find employment, this development is likely to be contrasted by the tendency for the supply of unskilled members of the active working age population to fall.
A reduction in the supply of skilled workers is already being displayed in respect of persons in active employment who have undergone training in an occupation within these occupational fields. Their numbers are likely to decrease further by 2025, mainly as a result of demographic developments.¹³ Workers who are currently unskilled could fill this skilled worker gap. It is probable that targeted vocational training is the only way of bringing about a sustainable improvement in the employment situation of unskilled workers. The prospects here would be good, since occupational fields¹⁴ in which non-formally qualified persons have a dominant representation also display areas of potential for training. The need to replace skilled workers is above average in fields such as construction technology and building services engineering, in transport occupations, in personal protection and security and in sales occupations. It would, therefore, very much make sense to invest more in training in these areas in particular. Advancing unskilled workers to skilled worker level by providing training is also likely to counter the shortage projected at the medium qualification level, at least in part.¹⁵

This poses the question as to the chances of unskilled workers with regard to further training. The 2006 BIBB/BAuA Employee Survey 2006¹⁶ asked persons in active employment about their educational level and participation in continuing training. The calculations only included employed persons aged between 25 and 44, the particularly active period for continuing training. In order to eliminate an educational effect to the greatest degree possible,¹⁷ only educational levels under general higher education entrance qualification were taken into account. The results of a series of logistic regression estimates will be presented at this point in order further to exclude the possibility that participation in continuing training was due to socio-demographic shifts or occupational position. This will involve the progressive specification of the models listed. The following initial theses are assumed.

• Continuing training, particularly when it concludes with recognised qualifications or inter-company certifications, also assists unskilled workers in retaining their employability and may in addition open up options for advancement.
• Participation in continuing training could also exert a positive effect on job satisfaction. It is likely that employees with a higher level of job satisfaction produce better performances than those who are less satisfied (WIENDIECK 1977; SIX & ECKES 1991; KATZELL, THOMPSON & GUZZO 1992). This leads to the justifiable conclusion that unskilled workers who are satisfied in their work and oriented towards advancement dissipate above average levels of interest and participation in continuing training.

Model 1 in Table 5 shows participation in continuing training depending on formal qualification. The likelihood that a formally qualified person in active employment will take part in a continuing training course is four times greater than is the case with a non-formally qualified person in active employment.
Model 2 estimates participation in continuing training depending on career expectation and satisfaction with employment. Only small changes compared to the first model are displayed with regard to formally qualified employees (compared with the reference value). Continuing training is used to a significantly lesser degree if career expectation or job satisfaction is low.

Employees with a fixed term contract of employment (Model 3) displayed considerably lower use of continuing training measures compared to employees with a permanent contract of employment. If occupational position is taken into account as a further dependent variable, it is revealed that fewer than one in two unskilled workers (0.4) were able to realise a continuing training course compared with the reference group of skilled workers (Model 4).

Model 5 investigates socio-demographic characteristics. With regard to age, no differences were displayed between older and younger workers. Participation in continuing training by men was shown to be higher than participation by women. Higher gross incomes displayed a clearly positive effect with regard to participation in continuing training.

The most significant result is that unskilled workers were only able to participate in continuing training to a limited extent compared to other employee groups.

Insufficient motivation is unlikely to be the sole reason for the low level of participation in continuing training by unskilled workers. Further causes may also be that the training offered by companies and continuing training providers fails to take sufficient account of the training needs of the target group or that suitable courses are only rarely provided.

Over recent years, the effect of the impending shortage of skilled workers has meant that public funding of continuing training has also been increasingly aligned towards unskilled workers. Examples of this include the WeGebAU Programme operated by the Federal Employment Agency (Continuing Training of Low Skilled Workers and Employed Older Persons in Companies) and numerous federal state programmes. The aim is to enable employees (including unskilled workers) to acquire part qualifications or have a second chance to obtain vocational qualifications without having to resign from their work. A detailed summary of funding programmes is included in the 2011 Data Report to accompany the Report on Vocational Education and Training¹⁸, and an assessment and evaluation of the WeGebAU Programme is provided in a brief report issued by the Institute for Employment Research (IAB).¹⁹

The "Prize for Innovation in Continuing Education and Training" (WIP) has been awarded by BIBB to particularly innovative continuing training provision since the year 2000. The WIP was initiated in order to be able to record changes to occupational skills requirements which frequently need to be initially formulated for the structuring of continuing vocational training and company-based continuing training (cf. BRÜGGEMANN 2005). As part of their application, participants submit a standardised questionnaire and a description of their continuing training provision extending over 8-10 pages. The information obtained from these materials is recorded in a database, which encompasses 1,581 cases/scheme design concepts including 184 continuing training courses forming the object of the present considerations.
The target group information contained within the database enables us to determine which vocational qualification level is expected from participants. Differentiations are drawn between training provision for persons not in possession of a vocational qualification (unskilled workers), for skilled workers, for management staff or for all qualification levels. All continuing training provision explicitly aimed at persons without VET qualifications or available to all qualification levels has been evaluated. 184 continuing training schemes related to the target group of unskilled workers forming the object of more detailed consideration here. The evaluation is restricted to applications submitted between 2006 and 2010.²⁰

Submitted applications contained within the database of the BIBB "Prize for Innovation in Continuing Education and Training" (WIP)21 facilitate a direct insight into the continuing training offered by providers for persons who have not completed vocational education and training and thus deliver important indications as to which training measures (including with the assistance of public funding) have been realised by companies and continuing training providers. To this purpose, the reports submitted were evaluated with regard to their respective training goal, their alignment to central fields of activity, their occupational relation and the qualification to be achieved. A number of examples will serve as a basis for demonstrating which training routes are used by unskilled workers in active employment or in order to integrate unemployed unskilled workers into the labour market.²²

Training objectives
Most continuing training schemes for unskilled workers are aimed at securing the occupational integration of the participants. They include provision for unemployed persons aligned towards achieving their integration or reintegration into the primary labour market as well as schemes for unskilled workers in active employment where the objective is to strengthen employability and thus reduce the risk of unemployment. One example of this is "Competence Development for Unskilled Older Workers", a continuing training programme instigated by the Bochum Association of Transport Technology. This is a company-based continuing training course in which learning tandems are formed between younger and older employees operating in different production divisions who within the scope of the programme provide one another with mutual induction training in their respective workplace. The aims of the scheme are to promote staff employability and to retain knowledge within the company, the objective being to achieve the latter via the joint learning and reciprocal teaching processes which take place between the young and old workers. The structure of objectives is extremely heterogeneous in overall terms. Provision particularly aligned towards unskilled workers in active employment includes provision relating to professionalisation within the occupational field, dealing with statutory stipulations, establishing new learning or teaching methods with the idea of opening up a low threshold entry into learning situations and the development of new markets. Remaining programmes are aimed at change of occupation or retraining. Only a few schemes are aligned towards a vocational qualification, these being exclusively for persons in active employment who have not completed vocational training.

Learning content of the provision
Although skills imparted primarily relate to fields of activity in which unskilled workers are frequently employed, the largest proportion of all programmes submitted for the WIP is made up of cross-cutting provision which imparts core or other cross-occupational skills (such as IT user skills and language training) rather than having any specific activity or specialist occupational reference. Specialist occupational programmes for personally related services and technical occupations form only the second largest category.

Occupational reference
Most training programmes²³ for unskilled workers relate to service occupations. Provision which relates to technical occupations is rarer. It is revealed that the programmes mostly impart skills in occupational fields frequently occupied by unskilled workers. "Industrial cleaners, office cleaners" and "Restaurant workers, flight attendants" are, for example, located in the occupational field of "Other services", and "Unspecified retail sales assistants" and "Food and luxury goods sellers" in the occupational field of "Sales personnel".²⁴  

The "Frankfurter Route to Vocational Education and Training" ("Frankfurt Workshops") facilitates full vocational training for unqualified unemployed persons in a selection of several occupations (e.g. driver, energy and buildings technician, warehouse logistics operator, cook). The scheme is aligned towards participation in a regular final examination within the scope of the external examinations governed by the Vocational Training Act (BBiG). Participants are prepared in three modular stages featuring a high proportion of practical training. The practical phases are completed in workshops owned by the provider and facilitate learning during the work process.

Certification
Four in five of the training programmes for unskilled workers investigated concluded with a certificate of participation. Training courses leading to a recognised qualification under Federal Government or federal state provision made up a proportion of approximately 5%. Regional chamber qualifications or provider certificates introduced at a national level²⁵ accounted for a similar proportion. The latter are also aimed at improving the employment opportunities of non-formally qualified persons. This is particularly likely to apply in the case of chamber qualifications by dint of the fact that such qualifications are often a reaction to labour needs within a certain region and also frequently open up access to further qualifications.

One example of regional provision is the "Logistics technician (Chamber of Industry and Commerce)" offered by Sick AG in Freiburg/Waldkirch. This is a company-based training course which aims to adapt the competences of unskilled workers in the logistics division of the company to changing requirements. The introduction of this provision constituted a reaction on the company's part to the increased requirement for training brought about by greater deployment of IT systems and to the increasing significance of logistics in the group within the context of cross-departmental work processes. Participants successfully completing the programme receive a Chamber of Industry and Commerce Logistics Technician certificate, which affords them the opportunity to take part in further courses included in the chamber's logistics training provision.

In overall terms, however, it is revealed that only a few of the programmes considered here offer full second chance vocational training or comparable qualifications. Instead, partially qualifying provision which merely provides certification of attendance is predominant, both in the case of programmes aimed at those in active employment and the unemployed. 

The evaluations of the microcensus show that, compared to trained skilled workers, a high proportion of unskilled workers in active employment is in jobs where they work for only a small number of hours each month and which are subject to flat-rate deductions - an arrangement which mostly constitutes precarious employment - and that the employment activity of unskilled workers is highly concentrated in a few occupational fields. The situation of the unskilled and low qualified is further exacerbated by the reduction in the kind of jobs in which they are able to find employment at all.

On the other hand, projections indicate employment and training opportunities for unskilled workers in occupations and occupational fields in which they have a dominant representation and in which requirements for skilled workers are already outstripping supply. Although unskilled workers exhibit below-average rates of training, continuing training provision for persons who have not completed vocational education and training included in the application documentation for the Prize for Innovation in Continuing Education and Training show that only a few continuing training programmes facilitate second chance training leading to a vocational qualification or a chamber certificate which enjoys supra-regional recognition. For this reason, permanent integration into the labour market, which is stated to be the main aim of the vast majority of programmes, remains doubtful. The purpose of continuing training needs to be called into question, particularly if it does not offer any new perspectives in the form of advancement and/or a change of occupation. This means that the complaint levelled at unskilled workers that they lack continuing training motivation is also in many cases the consequence of unsuitable provision.

Explanations and definitions (glossary)
The microcensus is the official representative statistic of the population and labour market produced by the Federal Statistical Office, in which 1% of all households in Germany participate each year (ongoing household sample).  The purpose of the microcensus is the provision of statistical information on the economic and social situation of the population, employment, the labour market and training. It represents a continuation of the results of the official census.
A total of around 390,000 households comprising 830,000 persons take part in the microcensus. All households have the same probability of being selected to take part (random sample).
The questions included in the microcensus comprise a fixed basic programme covering facts and circumstances which reoccur each year. There is a statutory requirement to provide information in response to the vast majority of questions. In addition to this, there are also additional programmes which are included in a four-year cycle. Some of these do not involve a statutory requirement to provide information. The fixed basic programme of the microcensus includes personal characteristics (age, gender, nationality etc.), the context of the family and household and other characteristics such as main and ancillary residence, employment, job search, unemployment, economic inactivity, school pupil, higher education student, general and vocational education qualification.

The BIBB/BAuA Employee Survey is jointly conducted by the conducted by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) and the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) and is a representative survey of 20,000 persons in active employment in Germany. It provides occupational and skills research with differentiated representative information on persons in active employment and on jobs.

The "working age population" refers to persons in active employment, persons seeking work (who are immediately available) and unemployed persons. The ILO Statistics define "unemployed" as a person who works for less than one hour per week but wishes to work more.

"Low skilled" persons are persons who are not in possession of a school leaving certificate or a vocational qualification.

"Unskilled workers" are persons who have not acquired a recognised vocational qualification or higher education qualification.

Targeted use needs to be made of initial and continuing training options if we wish to bring about a sustainable decrease in the proportion of unskilled workers. In particular, companies and training providers should bring at least the same level of endeavour to bear to acquire the target group of unskilled workers and the low skilled, whose training needs are not always directly apparent, as they do in order to secure the services of trained skilled workers. The basis of targeted staff development is the recording of existing or informally acquired competences and the integration of these into a training concept. In the light of the heterogeneity of the target group, suitable training provision would encompass aspects ranging from low-threshold entry into learning situations to preparation for regional chamber examinations and would also extend to include modularised stages with the goal of a recognised vocational qualification.
A "bottom- up" human resources training concept would be conceivable. If actively employed persons who were previously unskilled are able to use suitable training measures to advance to the status of skilled worker, they will help reduce the pressure at skilled worker level. This would leave potential areas of leeway which could then be used for the further vocational training of qualified skilled workers.