Fewer and fewer businesses are involved in vocational education and training

Between 2007 and 2013, the number of training businesses fell by 52,000. This means that, since then, approximately 1 in every 10 training companies has withdrawn from providing training. Over the same period, the training company rate fell from more than 24 % to under 21 %. An important reason behind this trend is the marked increase in unfilled training places. The results of a special analysis carried out by the qualification panel of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) show that the percentage of unfilled training places - as a proportion of the total supply of company-based training places - has increased from 19.6 % in 2012 to 27.2 % in 2014. This means that 1 in 4 training places offered in the 2013/2014 training year remained vacant. The BIBB qualification panel looked at a representative survey of around 3,500 companies.

Above all, it is the smaller companies - with up to 19 employees - which are increasingly falling behind as they are particularly affected by the problems with filling positions. In this case, the proportion of unfilled training places has already exceeded 33 % (2012: 21.3 %). By contrast, there is only a slight increase in this value to 20.4 % for medium-sized companies and, similarly, only a slight increase to 7.8 % for larger companies. According to BIBB analyses, the dual vocational education and training system is increasingly characterised by medium-sized companies.

Companies reporting unfilled training places come primarily from the agricultural and mining sectors, from the hotel and restaurant industry and the catering trade but also from the construction industry and from retail. In these cases, the proportions of unfilled training places are on average between 30 and 47 %. The companies least affected by problems with filling training places come from the areas of research and development, energy and water supply, chemistry/pharmacy as well as from the motor vehicle trade.

When asked about the reasons for the fall in newly concluded training contracts, companies primarily cite trends relating to the demand side of the market for training places. They refer to falling numbers of applications from school leavers, applications from unsuitable school leavers, the lack of appeal of the training occupations offered and the early termination of training contracts. However, companies are also exercising greater caution due to the increased training costs and previous experience with training places being left unfilled.

Even though the number of applicants is falling due to demographic change, the BIBB qualification panel results show that there is still a sufficient number of applications for the training positions offered. This means that, on average, companies which do not face problems when filling training places can select from seven applicants per position. And even at those companies with a high proportion of training places unfilled, the average number of applications per training place is still three. In the view of BIBB researchers, there are other reasons to explain the fact that training places still remain vacant. The school-based prior learning of applicants and the school-based performance may well play an important role. This is because the companies and sectors with an above-average number of unfilled training places have a high proportion of applicants with a lower secondary school leaving certificate. An increased readiness among companies to also give these applicants an opportunity would be desirable.

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