Vocational Education and Training

Every year Germany’s dual system of vocational training offers around two thirds of all school-leavers the prospect of learning one of some 350 trades. Currently, just under 1.6 m trainees in nearly 500,000 businesses are taking advantage of this offer. Combining practical training at work with continued education at a vocational school, the dual system enables young people in Germany to be integrated into the workforce relatively successfully, as the low level of youth unemployment relative to other countries shows.

Susanne Seyda ·
IW-Policy Paper No. 7 ·
18 September 2019

How digitisation can be used to educate the low-skilled

The training participation of the low-skilled has increased significantly in recent decades. The main reasons are higher requirements and technical changes, which also affect the activities of low-skilled workers.

Christiane Konegen-Grenier ·
IW-Report No. 32 ·
4 September 2019

Humanities scholars on the labour market

With a share of 8.2 per cent of all students and a share of 5.6 per cent of all approximately nine million employed graduates, the humanities graduates, without considering the teaching graduates, represent a comparatively small group in study and employment. Their most striking difference to the average of graduates is their high proportion of women, which in turn leads to an above-average proportion of mostly voluntary part-time employment.

Hans-Peter Klös / David B. Meinhard ·
IW-Policy Paper No. 6 ·
27 August 2019

world of employment: Industrial competitiveness, digitisation and vocational training

The digital transformation in Germany's economy and society is in full swing. Not all of the indicators of Germany's technological performance show a pioneering role in digitization. The technological trends will therefore not remain without effects on the business models of companies operating in Germany.

Progress to Date and Companies’ Ongoing Need for Modernisation and Support

Regina Flake / David B. Meinhard / Dirk Werner ·
IW-Trends No. 2 ·
23 April 2019

Digitalisation in Dual Vocational Training

This paper analyses the impact of the digital transformation on training activities in German enterprises.

Sigrid Schöpper-Grabe / Isabel Vahlhaus ·
IW-Trends No. 1 ·
14 March 2019

Basic and Continuing Education for the Low-skilled: Results of a Survey of Companies by the German Economic Institute

Corporate personnel development is increasingly recognising the training needs of employees without vocational qualifications: 89 per cent of companies that employ low-skilled workers have offered at least one further training course for this target group in the last five years.

Yet there is no reason for us to rest on our laurels, as this transition is seldom seamless. The average age of those starting an apprenticeship is 19 years, with many school-leavers first having to complete a preparatory course. Companies are encountering increasing difficulties in finding suitable applicants.

Additionally, there is a need for improvement at the interfaces between vocational training, further training and tertiary education. Too often skills which have already been acquired are not recognised. Moreover, the traditional German belief in apprenticeships does not extend to further training. Companies are setting a good example in this respect, investing an average of over a thousand euros a year on the further training of their employees. However, the challenges of demographic change and technological progress mean that such measures will have to be expanded and vocational training systematically developed if the economy is not to run out of skilled workers.