Company Costs and Benefits in Germany

For the majority of companies, training is primarily an investment. But there are also several benefits for the company providing training.

Cost of training

Every five years, BIBB conducts a representative survey on the costs and benefits of training. The 2017/18 BIBB Cost-Benefit Survey showed that the average gross costs per apprentice in the 2017/18 training year were €20,855. The productive output of an apprentice generated average returns of €14,377 for the firms. Subtracting the returns from the gross costs therefore indicates net costs of €6,478 per apprentice and year (BIBB Report 3/2020) This amount varies according to training occupation, the duration of the training programmes, and the size of the companies providing training and regions. The largest share of the costs is the training allowance.

Benefits of training

On average, 2/3 of gross costs are offset by the productive outputs of apprentices. This number varies strongly among different training occupations. An additional benefit especially arises when companies hire their apprentices as skilled workers on completion of their training. In this way, the companies save recruitment costs including advertising costs and personnel costs for the selection process, costs of external advisers and intermediaries, and induction costs. Benefits are also increased due to companies’ prior knowledge about their apprentices and vice-versa. At the end of the apprenticeship, companies are able to offer permanent employment to their most successful trainees.