Old applicants

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Those persons who applied for a training position in the reference year and did not leave school in the same year are taken into account as old applicants in official German statistics if they have unsuccessfully applied for such a position in at least one of the previous five years. It is irrelevant which school qualification they have acquired or what reasons existed for delaying the start of training.

Up to 2008, German statistics also included people who had not left school in the reference year but applied for a training position for the first time this year. By changing the definition set, the number of old applicants included in the statistics decreased.

Activities after the first application

After the first unsuccessful application, many rejected applicants decide to do military or community service , a voluntary social year , a stay abroad or an internship . Others who have been rejected, especially those with a Realschule leaving certificate , opt for full-time school attendance at upper secondary level , often with the intention of attaining the advanced technical college or university entrance qualification that gives them the option to start studying .

School leavers who have not yet completed their compulsory vocational schooling are, if necessary, transferred to the transitional system against their will if they cannot fulfill their compulsory schooling in another way. Anyone who is no longer required to attend vocational school can offer their workforce on the labor market without a vocational qualification or, if necessary, even without a school qualification, and work as an unskilled worker.

Development of the number of old applicants in Germany

In times of high general unemployment in Germany up to the beginning of the millennium (peak: February 2005), year after year many school leavers did not get a training position immediately after leaving school. As a result, “legacy problems” built up in the form of old applicants who competed for an apprenticeship position with the recently dismissed school leavers. In 2006, old applicants made up the majority (51 percent) of all applicants for a training position for the first time. In the years 2006 to 2008, the quota was 40 percent according to the definition of the term old applicant that has been in effect since 2008 ; it fell to 27 percent by 2016 (see “Weblinks”).

In 2006, the proportion of secondary school students among the old applicants was 40.2 percent; 8.5 percent did not have a school leaving certificate. The quota of students with a secondary school leaving certificate was 37.8 percent in 2006, the share of high school graduates at 12.7 percent (these quotas are based on the old definition of the term old applicants from the time before 2008, according to which, for example, a high school graduate who is a volunteer Social year , was counted as an old applicant when he applied for a training position for the first time ).

Between October 2006 and September 2007 there were 737,300 applicants for a training position in Germany compared to 510,400 open training positions. This deficit decreased steadily until 2015/2016. In 2016/2017 there was a slight surplus of vacant training positions for the first time (549,800 positions compared to 547,800 applicants). While in 2017 the ratio between applicants and vacancies was more or less balanced nationwide, there are large regional differences. In Bavaria, for example, there was a ratio of 79 applicants to 100 positions, while in Berlin there was a ratio of 142 applicants to 100 positions. It is noticeable that the situation for those looking for apprenticeships in 2017 was not relatively bad everywhere in East Germany and not relatively good everywhere in West Germany. It is also noticeable that 36 percent of applicants with a refugee background began vocational training in the reference period 2016/2017 (of all applicants, 47 percent were able to find a training position).

From 2009 to 2018, the number of vacant apprenticeships in Germany increased by 178 percent. Despite an increasing number of vacant apprenticeship positions, the number of unsupported applicants rose from 8,357 to 18,365 between 2010 and 2017. From the point of view of the Education and Science Union , this is also due to the fact that, despite the declarations of intent by business in the 2000s, the proportion of companies in Germany that participate in vocational training fell from 25 to 20 percent between 2011 and 2016 have. As a result, young people without an “apprenticeship certificate” would de facto not have an easier time getting a training position than in the 2000s.

Causes of the unsuccessfulness in previous applications

Labor market situation

It is obvious that if there is an oversupply of those interested in a training position compared to the number of training positions offered, many applicants cannot be considered. In addition to this imbalance, there are hurdles in the form of hiring requirements that many applicants do not meet. Above all, this includes the secondary school leaving certificate as a minimum requirement for starting an apprenticeship in many apprenticeships.

In the event of an improvement in the labor market, unless the state intervenes in the market, first those old applicants are hired who, from the employer's point of view, appear to be the most likely to be able to successfully complete their training, as well as the motivation to cooperate and the "ambition" .

In particular, if the labor market situation improves, those old applicants who have the following characteristics have a relatively good chance of reapplying:

  • high school qualifications, especially qualifications from (higher) commercial schools ,
  • good grades (especially in mathematics and German),
  • a successfully completed entry qualification (EQJ).

Deficits ascribed to applicants

Many applicants are certified as having insufficient general qualification for training . In addition, the lack of important key qualifications combined with a lack of mastery of fundamental cultural techniques and / or the German language reduces the likelihood that the applicant will be able to successfully complete the training.

There is a trend towards an increase in the requirements that applicants are confronted with. In connection with a steady increase in the high school graduation rate, this leads to an increasing number of secondary school graduates being viewed as “second choice”, while high school graduates are viewed as “first choice”. However, the fact that the latter “too often” (from the point of view of training companies) opt for a degree and against in-company training is seen by many HR managers as “ over-academization ”, although the trend towards higher requirements also means that more and more well-paid jobs are only are accessible to applicants with a university degree. Apart from this, it is required for entire occupational fields that all those working in them should be able to present a university degree (e.g. this applies to activities in the educational, nursing and therapeutic areas). The result of the trend towards an increase in entry requirements for a profession is a relatively high rate of applicants with a secondary school leaving certificate whose applications are not successful in the year they leave school (= relatively many secondary school graduates among the old applicants).

Single mothers and fathers represent a separate group among the old applicants. Many potential employers are not prepared to take into account their limited temporal (and spatial) availability .

Assessment by the economy

In 2012, the Federal Ministry of Economics campaigned to recruit old applicants. Because these are "better than their reputation: while their motivation and commitment are above average, they have knowledge and skills that roughly correspond to those of an average trainee." The ministry thus contradicts an assessment from 2010, according to which many applicants therefore do not immediately in the first year in which they applied for an apprenticeship position, they would have received one because they had deficits at the time that would have led the companies to reject the application. They were simply "too bad".

In 2015, 59.0 percent of the companies “active in training” (ie the companies that had trained young people in the dual system in the last few years or at the time of the survey) stated that they had never trained a secondary school graduate; According to this, 91.9 percent of the companies active in training had never trained a young person without a school leaving certificate by 2015.

Contrary to the thesis that potential trainers have not adapted to the changed offer of applicants, the fact that, according to statements by the German Industry and Trade Conference (DIHT), 80 percent of the companies surveyed in 2017 stated that they were willing to give young people with less learning opportunities training opportunities and to give them tutoring in the company.

Despite significantly better demographic and economic framework conditions for applicants than in 2006, according to the BIBB's “Data Report 2018” (see web links), the “confluence rate” (i.e. the proportion of applicants successfully placed in a training position) did not increase among old applicants, compared with first-time applicants even decreased, which indicates that, despite a worsening shortage of skilled workers, there are still many applicants who are rated as “unsuitable” by the economy.

According to the BIBB's “Data Report 2018”, more than two thirds of all previous applicants in 2016 had a better school leaving certificate than the secondary school leaving certificate and were more willing to accept an apprenticeship position in various professions and also to apply outside their home region than successful first time applicants. The proportion of young people with a migration background in all first-time applicants was only slightly higher in 2016 than their proportion in all previous applicants (28 and 31 percent). In 2006, the proportion of young people with a migration background among first-time applicants was 20 percent, compared with 29 percent among old applicants.

Promotion of old applicants

In January 2008 the Federal Cabinet decided to provide 100,000 old applicants with training positions. Up until 2010, companies were able to receive a training bonus for "particularly worthy of support" old applicants. The bonus could be up to 6,000 euros, depending on the training remuneration.

In spring 2015, the German Bundestag added to the SGB III to § 130 a through which the instrument of " assisted training was introduced" into the German social law. 6364 trainees were funded on the basis of this instrument in 2016. “Young people (usually under 25 years of age) who

The guiding principle for the new regulation was the insight that “[primarily] the target groups of youth social work - educationally disadvantaged or individually handicapped adolescents and young adults who are often in difficult life situations - [...] access to a regular training position or a successful degree still often blocked “remain. According to paragraph 9 of Section 130 SGB III, young people will have the last opportunity to start training on the basis of the paragraph on September 30, 2020.

Towards the end of the 2010s, the group of those eligible for funding was narrowed down among the old applicants. The Hessian regional council of Kassel makes it clear that only those old applicants who live in Hesse, are younger than 27 years, have no higher school qualification than the secondary school qualification and any previous vocational training at the latest one year after the end of the probationary period can be funded by the state of Hesse canceled.

The entry-level qualification model is currently important. The program is based on the finding that many school leavers are not (yet) able to meet the requirements that are necessary for successfully completing vocational training in the desired occupation. The main instrument of the model is a six to twelve-week internship in which an applicant and his future potential trainer get to know each other. The potential of the applicant should be realistically recorded without prejudice.

The question of whether the state is even obliged to help those legally resident in its field to obtain training is politically controversial. Only the right of Article 27 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to participate in working life is recognized. In the sense of § 19 SGB ​​III , the group of people with disabilities to whom the UN Convention applies also includes people with learning disabilities. In the opinion of Peter Masuch , President of the Federal Social Court , people without a certificate of (learning) disability have no legal right to funding from the state, because “people without disabilities can and must help themselves because of the subordinate status of social assistance”.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ BA wants to count old applicants for apprenticeships differently in the future . bildungsklick.de. April 16, 2008
  2. ↑ Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology : Securing skilled workers - old applicants in training . Berlin. February 2012
  3. ↑ Federal Agency for Political Education : Unemployed and unemployment rate. In absolute numbers and as a percentage of all civilian labor force, 1980 to 2018 . 19th March 2019
  4. ↑ Joachim Gerd Ulrich / Elisabeth M. Krekel: What training opportunities do "old applicants" have? . Federal Institute for Vocational Training (bibb). Vocational training in science and practice (BWP). 2/2007
  5. ↑ Joachim Peter: Old applicants have fewer opportunities . welt.de. July 10, 2007
  6. ↑ Federal Employment Agency: Who will register as an applicant? Registered applicants October 2016 to September 2017 . 2018
  7. ↑ Federal Ministry of Education and Research : Vocational Training Report 2018 . March 2018. p. 26 (24)
  8. ↑ Federal Ministry of Education and Research: Vocational Training Report 2018 . March 2018. p. 26 (28)
  9. ^ Karl-Heinz Reith: The flagship lurches . In: E & W (magazine of the GEW), edition 10/2017, p. 18f.
  10. ↑ Matthias Anbühl: No suitable applicants? - How the public training statistics conceal the situation on the training market: DGB brief analysis of the BA statistics for the training year 2016 . Berlin 2016, p. 2
  11. ↑ Previous applicants: Qualified, motivated - and yet fewer chances of finding an apprenticeship . bildungsklick.de. July 19, 2007
  12. ↑ Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology : Securing skilled workers - old applicants in training . Berlin. February 2012
  13. ↑ Stefan von Borstel: Many school leavers too bad for training . welt.de. March 3, 2010
  14. ^ Institute of the German Economy (iwd): Assisted training - an opportunity for disadvantaged young people . October 24, 2017
  15. ^ German Chamber of Industry and Commerce eV (DIHK) / Training area: Training 2017. Results of a DIHK online company survey . Berlin 2017, p. 5
  16. ↑ 100,000 old applicants should receive training positions . bildungsklick.de. January 9, 2008
  17. ↑ Joachim Kopp: Assisted training . haufe.de. Retrieved March 27, 2019
  18. ↑ Cooperation network for youth social work: Assisted training - an instrument put to the test . January 2017. p. 4
  19. ↑ Regional Council Kassel: Apprenticeship support for dropouts, old applicants and young people with increased language support needs . Retrieved March 27, 2019
  20. ↑ Federal Employment Agency: Bridge into vocational training - company entry qualification (EQ) . August 2017
  21. ↑ Peter Masuch: What did the UN-CRPD bring for better participation in working life? Speech given at the Werkstättentag in Chemnitz on September 21, 2016 . P. 6