There were fewer than half a million training contracts in 2020. The corona crisis was to blame for the historic low. There was a drop of more than 60 percent in the tourism industry.
The Corona crisis has led to a historic decline in the number of apprentices in Germany.
Last year, 465,700 contracts for an apprenticeship in dual vocational training were concluded, 47,600 or 9.3 percent less than in 2019, the Federal Statistical Office announced on Wednesday. It is the largest percentage decrease since the beginning of the time series in 1977.
“The number of new contracts is at an all-time low. Never since statistics began over 40 years ago have there been fewer than 500,000 new trainees in a year, ”explained Rotraud Kellers from the department responsible for vocational training statistics at the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden. “The number of new contracts in the hospitality and transport industry fell particularly sharply, in other words in industries that were heavily affected by the Corona measures.”
In the training area of industry and trade, to which the hospitality and transport sector belong, the number of new contracts fell the most in 2020 with almost twelve percent or 36,000 fewer new trainee contracts. The biggest declines there were among tourism clerks with almost two thirds fewer new training contracts (-61.1 percent), followed by hotel specialists and women (-31 percent) and cookery training (-19.8 percent).
In the skilled trades, the decline in apprenticeship contracts was less, with minus 6.5 percent or 9,000 fewer new contracts. While significantly fewer young people began an apprenticeship as a hairdresser (-18.6 percent), there were more contracts for roofers (+3.9 percent), carpenters (+11.7) and two-wheel mechatronics technicians (+13.1) which, however, are of little consequence in terms of the absolute figures.
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
