Print version Recommend this page Press release
35/ 2012
Bonn, 10.10.2012
Dual vocational education and training - premature contract dissolutions cost around €6,800 on average
Any premature dissolution of a training contract brings a loss of resources in its wake, both of human resources and above all of financial resources. The Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) has for the first time carried out a series of calculations which enable a figure to be put on the costs caused by premature dissolutions of contracts within the dual training system. The results show that overall average costs incurred in the occupations and branches forming the object of the BIBB investigation up until the time of dissolution of contract are €6,826.
Although extrapolating these net costs incurred prior to dissolution of contract to all contract dissolutions indicates that total costs for all companies affected were approximately €580 million in the year 2007, the fact that about half of trainees obtain a new training place following a contract dissolution means that losses are significantly lower in overall macroeconomic terms. In such cases, trainees benefit from the training they have undergone thus far, and companies are also able to reduce their overall financial expenditure by using this prior training as a basis.
BIBB has prepared its latest calculations by investigating 51 occupations across all branches. The proportion of dissolved contracts in these occupations was 20.5%. The average time of premature termination of contract was after around 12 months. The craft trade occupations investigated exhibited the highest rate of dissolution of contract (approximately 25%). By way of contrast, the corresponding figure for occupations in the public sector was only around 7%. In the liberal professions, premature contract dissolutions occurred after a period of only ten months on average. This compared with an average time of 15 months in agricultural occupations.
A consideration of net costs of premature contract dissolutions by branch reveals significant differences. These costs amount to around €7,700 in the public sector and in the area of responsibility of trade and industry, whereas the figure recorded for the liberal professions is just under €3,200. An examination of the respective occupations also uncovers considerable variances. Net costs of premature contract dissolutions in the occupations of tools mechanic, industrial mechanic, plant mechanic, chemical technician and printer all exceed €15,000. This is in sharp contrast to the equivalent costs of only around €2,100 for the occupations of qualified dental employee, medical assistant and hairdresser. Net costs for the occupation of baker are just short of €1,000, putting it at the very lowest end of the scale of the 51 occupations investigated.
Further information on this topic is available in the article "Company cost of contract dissolutions" contained within the "Vocational education and training in figures" section of the latest edition of BIBB's specialist periodical "Vocational Training in Research and Practice" (BWP). This article may be downloaded free of charge at www.bibb.de/bwp/kosten-vertragsloesung (German language resource)
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