Germany: the German economy is adapting its professions to meet the digital age

In Germany, the digitalization of the economy has become a nationwide issue and is now sitting high up on the agendas of the social partners, the political parties and businesses alike. Following the publication of the Green and White Papers on the topic, which places employee training at the center of the process, the political parties, by now all in full election mode, are putting forward a proposal for State-funded continuous training and the establishment of national bodies to manage the transition process towards digitalization, as well as ‘lifelong learning’. Other processes have also been launched including an overhaul of apprenticeship and continuous training courses, set to start in the summer of 2018, and in this vein the metals sector social partners have just presented a series of concrete methodological proposals which demonstrate that although the task ahead is significant, not all professions will need to be re-invented.