Approximately a fourth of businesses express a desire to reduce the number of training opportunities they provide. - Nearly a fourth of businesses plan to reduce the number of training opportunities they provide
The German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) has released a survey revealing a potential skills gap in the German job market. According to the survey, three-quarters of businesses facing recruitment difficulties attribute this to a lack of suitable candidates.
The DIHK observes a decrease in the number of training positions offered by businesses in Germany. This trend is largely due to economic and structural challenges facing companies. These challenges include a persistent economic slowdown and expected recession, high costs and economic uncertainties, and structural problems such as excessive bureaucracy.
The economic slowdown and anticipated recession are impacting business expectations and investment willingness. The DIHK expects a third year of recession in 2025, with weak domestic and foreign demand, which dims companies' outlooks and their propensity to create new training positions.
High costs and economic uncertainties, such as soaring energy and raw material prices, elevated labor costs, and unclear economic policy frameworks, weigh heavily on businesses’ financial stability and risk appetite for expanding training programs.
Structural problems such as excessive bureaucracy add operational burdens on companies, detracting focus and resources from training investments. Efforts are underway to reduce bureaucracy, but these issues currently limit companies’ dynamics in offering apprenticeships.
This situation creates a paradox where, despite clear shortages of skilled workers and ongoing recruitment difficulties, companies hesitate to offer new apprenticeships due to economic caution and structural frictions. The dual vocational training system remains strong, but broader economic and policy conditions suppress new training positions.
The DIHK survey also suggests a trend of decreasing training positions offered by businesses, with a quarter of businesses planning to offer fewer training positions. Furthermore, the survey highlights the issue of recruitment difficulties in the training sector, as many businesses are struggling to find suitable trainees.
The DIHK links the decline in training offers to Germany’s sluggish economy, high operational costs, structural legislative friction, and overall uncertainty—despite the acute need for skilled labor. This issue underscores the need for policy interventions to address the economic challenges and bureaucratic barriers that are hindering businesses from offering training positions and contributing to the skills gap in the German job market.
- The German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) suggests that the declining number of vocational training positions offered by businesses might be influenced by economic factors such as finance and business, including a third year of recession, high costs, and economic uncertainties.
- Despite the demand for vocational education and career-development in EC countries, the DIHK notes that the recruitment difficulties faced by businesses are partly due to a lack of suitable candidates for education-and-self-development programs such as vocational training, which could be impacted by policy interventions aimed at resolving economic challenges and bureaucratic obstacles.
