BERLIN, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- The satisfaction of apprentices with Germany's famous vocational training system has fallen to a record low, the 2018 "training report" published on Monday by the Federation of German Trade Union (DGB) finds.
According to the report, 70.3 percent of apprentices indicated during the latest DGB survey that they were happy with the quality of jobs training they received. While showcasing that a large majority of trainees are still satisfied with the system, the figure was the lowest measured by DBG since the beginning of the current time series in 2005.
Additionally, more than a third of respondents said that they were regularly expected to do overtime (36.3 percent) with 13 percent thereof receiving no compensation for the work. 54.4 percent of apprentices surveyed by DGB indicated that it was generally expected from them to be reachable by phone or email outside of their regular working hours.
The findings were published during a presentation in Berlin on Monday which coincided with the launch of the new 2018/2019 training year. In July, the Federal Labor Office (BA) registered 531,426 available training places and 501,878 interested apprentices for the coming period.
Deputy DGB president Elke Hannack argued that it was not surprising that employers struggled to find apprentices in light of the deteriorating working conditions which young Germans faced in such positions. "The old complaint by employers about a scarcity of apprentices is mainly made in industries which are known for miserable training conditions and poor pay", Hannack said.
Aside from specific problems encountered in this regard in gastronomy & tourism, retail and parts of the handicraft trades, the deputy DGB president urged German firms to improve the quality and structure of apprenticeships more generally. "The federal government must finally reform the jobs training law, introduce a minimum trainee wage and improve the opportunities for obtaining qualifications and enrolling in further training (after completing an initial apprenticeship) at firms", Hannack said.
Another recent study by the state-owned KfW banking group recorded the first aggregate increase (plus 1.1 percent) in the number of apprentices in six years in 2017. Around 90 percent of the 1.32 million trainees were hereby employed in small and mid-sized (SME) firms.
SMEs are often depicted as the backbone of the German economy with their participation in the country's "dual education system", comprising two distinct university and apprenticeship routes, being cited as a key reason for its relatively low youth unemployment.
Given currently high demand for skilled labor from employers, the KfW predicted that the total number of apprentices was likely to grow again by roughly one percent in 2018 in spite of a remaining gender pay gap between female and male trainees and a broader trend towards more university enrolment in Germany.
