Education: Proportion of secondary school pupils falling – more high school graduates
Around 140,000 fewer apprenticeships

After grammar school, students go to university, secondary school and middle school students do an apprenticeship: This equation no longer applies. According to a recent study, the proportion of school leavers who start an apprenticeship is increasing – to a good 47% at the last count.
Young people with a secondary school leaving certificate are apparently finding it increasingly difficult to get a training place. At the same time, the proportion of high school graduates starting an apprenticeship has risen significantly in recent years. This is shown by a study commissioned by the Bertelsmann Foundation. The author of the study, Dieter Dohmen, is quoted in a press release from the foundation as saying that vocational training is no longer attractive for high school graduates.
Secondary school pupils less likely to start training
Between 2011 and 2021, the proportion of young people who started an apprenticeship with a secondary school leaving certificate fell by a fifth. The already difficult situation for young people without a school-leaving certificate has recently become even more acute. In contrast, the proportion of school-leavers with a high school diploma who opted for an apprenticeship rose from 35% in 2011 to 47.4% in 2021. Before the coronavirus pandemic in 2019, the proportion was even slightly higher (48.5%).
Trade unionist: Employers „select the best“
„It simply doesn’t add up when employers complain about a lack of applicants on the one hand, but on the other hand often select the best applicants,“ said DGB Deputy Chairwoman Elke Hannack to the German Press Agency. „Young people with a secondary school leaving certificate also need the chance of an apprenticeship.“ There is enormous potential for more training and thus for alleviating the shortage of skilled workers: „As a society, we cannot afford to let this lie fallow.“ According to trade unionist Hannack, it is important that improvements are made to the planned training guarantee. The coalition government has enshrined the guarantee in its coalition agreement.
Fewer apprenticeships in the long term
According to the study, the number of apprenticeships has fallen in a long-term comparison: while the last peak was in 2007, when there were still a good 844,000 people in training, the number was 706,000 in 2021. The coronavirus pandemic was a turning point here. In previous years, the number had risen slightly in the meantime.
Source: br24.de