According to the first draft of the "2013 Apprenticeship Report," in 2012, German businesses cut the number of apprenticeship places they offered. Indeed, last year, only 21.7% of companies trained apprentices, i.e. one of the lowest rates since the reunification. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the trade unions called on businesses to review their recruitment policy and start training tomorrow's skilled workers today. However, employers say this evolution didn't come from businesses but from the applicants' lack of qualifications. (Ref. 130181)
Training offer is down. The “2013 Apprenticeship Report” hasn’t been published yet (the government should adopt it at a cabinet meeting on April 1) but it has already sparked off vivid controversy. According to the Handelsblatt daily (March 3), which got hold of a copy of the report, last year, German businesses signed 551,272 apprenticeship contracts, 2.2% down from 2011. The number of apprenticeship offers has also dropped by 2.4%, down to 584,547 places. Less than 1 in 5 (21.7%)...
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