How long will artisan bakers still be making bread in Germany? In any case, the number of trainees has been falling sharply for years. The central association of the bakery trade sees politics as a duty.
The bakery trade in Germany is increasingly lacking junior staff. The number of bakers and specialist salespeople in training has again fallen significantly, as the Central Association of the German Bakery Trade announced today.
Accordingly, there were 4,211 prospective bakers and 6,495 prospective bakery salespeople in training last year – a decrease of more than 11 percent compared to the previous year. In 2015, the central association had more than 18,800 trainees, in 2019 around 14,800. Now there are still a good 10,700.
The Central Association calls on politicians to support the trade. “The academization trend of the past decades must be stopped by further improving and expanding career orientation at all schools, especially high schools,” said Friedemann Berg, deputy general manager, according to the announcement. He also called for more housing options for trainees – in parallel with student dormitories, for example trainee dormitories. “The housing shortage in the cities is now leading to training contracts not being concluded because the applicants cannot find affordable housing,” said Berg.
Youth campaign is being revised
According to the central association, it has expanded its cooperation with the Federal Institute for Vocational Training “in order to, among other things, strengthen the training staff in the bakery trade with specific support offers”. In addition, a training summit was held last year. The young people’s campaign “Back your future” is being strategically revised.
According to the association, a little more than 1,250 bakers and more than 1,900 trainees in specialist sales completed their training in 2022. “264 journeymen successfully completed their master’s examination, including 86 women, which corresponds to an increase of 34.4 percent,” the central association also announced. Overall, however, the number of master craftsman exams passed fell by 11.7 percent.
Source: Stern
