Almost twice as many boys as girls start an apprenticeship

48 percent of under-18s and thus almost half of all young people opt for an apprenticeship. Specifically, 7121 young people started an apprenticeship in 2022, which is an increase of 6.8 percent compared to the previous year and there are also more apprentices in the first year of apprenticeship than before the outbreak of the pandemic in 2019: These figures were given by the President of the Upper Austrian Chamber of Commerce, Doris Hummer, and Eva-Maria Schupfer, Head of the Education Policy Department at the WKOÖ, today, Wednesday, at a press conference in Linz. Hummer was pleased with the development: “Upper Austria is still the number one federal state for apprentices.” Upper Austria accounts for 16 percent of the population, but 21 percent of the apprentices. There are a total of 22,743 apprentices in Upper Austria.

The industrial division recorded the largest increase with an increase of 204 apprentices. After difficult years due to corona, tourism is also on the up again (plus 108).

However, significantly more boys (4533) than girls (2588) still opt for dual training. Hummer also sees potential in the girls: They should be addressed above all by the dual academy, which enables AHS high school graduates and university dropouts to do a shortened apprenticeship. In addition, although there are more than 200 different apprenticeships, from application development to relaxation techniques, the majority of girls who do an apprenticeship still opt for a few traditional occupations: 33 percent do an apprenticeship in retail, 24 percent do an apprenticeship Apprenticeship as an office clerk. The third most popular training is to become a hairdresser/stylist (eight percent).

Efforts to make apprenticeships even more attractive for girls are also intended to meet the enormous need for trainees: According to a survey by the WKOÖ, 80 percent of companies have problems finding enough workers. The ratio of apprenticeship seekers to vacancies is also striking in Upper Austria: according to figures from the labor market service, there are four apprenticeship vacancies for every applicant

According to Hummer, another approach to closing this gap is the expansion of the red-white-red card: This is intended to bring skilled workers from third countries to Austria and, according to Hummer, should also be extended to adult apprentices: “This should be allowed to do an apprenticeship in a shortage occupation in Upper Austria.”