Germany’s craftsmen lack a six-digit number of skilled workers and a five-digit number of trainees. According to the craft industry, German education policy contributed to this.
Last year, around 20,000 apprenticeship positions remained unfilled in the German craft sector. The Central Association of German Crafts (ZDH) is therefore calling for a change in educational policy before the start of the Munich Craft Fair in order to help non-academic educational and career paths gain greater social respect and recognition.
According to the figures published on Wednesday, craft businesses had hired more trainees by the end of November than in the previous year. But at the same time, significantly more apprenticeship positions remained unfilled, as the ZDH announced. Accordingly, 133,700 new training contracts were concluded in the craft sector, which was 1,815 or 1.4 percent more than in 2022. At the same time, however, 20,013 apprenticeship positions were unfilled, a good thousand more than a year earlier.
In addition to the actual showcase of the participating companies, politics has always played a major role at the Munich craft fair. Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) is expected to attend the opening, and on Friday the annual top-level discussion between German business and Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) is scheduled to take place on the sidelines of the craft fair.
“Germany needs a turnaround in education”
In total, there are currently an estimated 250,000 job vacancies in German trades. In addition to labor market policy initiatives, the ZDH called for a rethinking of politics before the opening of the trade fair: all measures must be taken into account to ensure the equivalence of vocational and academic education and to support companies in training. “Germany needs a turnaround in education,” demanded the association.
The ZDH sees a central challenge in filling training positions in the lack of knowledge among many young people about educational and career opportunities in the skilled trades. The association is therefore calling for nationwide career guidance at all types of schools, including high schools.
The ZDH emphasized the economic importance of the craft industry as an “economic power next door”: At 735 billion euros in 2022, the craft industry’s annual sales were in the same order of magnitude as the sales of the global corporations Apple, Meta and Google combined.
Crafts President: Farmers’ protests are a bad example
Crafts President Jörg Dittrich warned his industry to follow the farmers’ protests as a model, despite the discontent of many companies. Economic policy should not take place on the street, but in parliaments and in dialogue between politicians and associations, said the ZDH President of the “Augsburger Allgemeine”.
“There is a lot of pressure from different parts of the country to follow the example of the farmers,” said Dittrich. “Personally, I think this is the wrong approach.” Many protests started peacefully, but then degenerated.
At the same time, Dittrich warned of a polarization of society. “The many angry maximum demands are making us more and more unable to compromise and are destroying the community, regardless of whether it is about limiting uncontrolled immigration or the competitive energy supply of the future,” warned the craft president. “Secondly, I want to make it clear that we in the trades are among those affected when people become frightened by a discussion about the level of cosmopolitanism.”
“In our industry we have had a high proportion of employees with a migrant background for years,” said Dittrich. “If forces come to power that use the term remigration to frighten people who have been anchored here for a long time, then that will be a catastrophe for Germany’s reputation in the world and thus for Germany as a business location and ultimately also massively damages craft businesses. “
Source: Stern
