As of October, local companies recorded an increase of 7.8 percent in apprentices in the first year of training compared to 2021. The Deputy Secretary General of the Austrian Economic Chamber, Mariana Kühnel, spoke of an “autumn turbo” in a broadcast this week. 35,580 young people are currently in their first year of training. 32,405 of them learn in training companies.
The largest increase in numbers was with plus 742 to 4864 apprentices in the first year of apprenticeship in industry. This is followed by tourism (plus 561 to 2,704 apprentices) and trade and crafts (plus 391 to 14,086 apprentices). The information and consulting occupational group also recorded good growth with an increase of 226 to 902 apprentices.
According to Kühnel, securing skilled workers is a major concern in local training companies: “This goes across all sectors – from craft and industrial jobs to IT jobs. The big plus in tourism is also gratifying.”
Clear job backlog
Viewed over all apprenticeship years, 108,567 people are currently completing an apprenticeship, 102,343 of them in training companies. The training companies would like to train even more young people. However, according to data from the Public Employment Service (AMS), there are currently only 8,750 apprenticeship seekers out of the 16,443 apprenticeship vacancies across Austria. In purely mathematical terms, 7,700 apprenticeship positions could not be filled at all.
It pays off to address young people via digital channels. The topics of digitization and “green” skills are very popular with them.
Source: Nachrichten
