There is a risk of a shortage of clerks: Skilled trades still have 28,000 vacant apprenticeships

According to industry information, thousands of apprenticeship positions in the German craft sector have not yet been filled for the 2021 apprenticeship year that has already started.

At the end of August, a good 28,000 such positions were vacant, said the President of the Central Association of German Crafts (ZDH), Hans Peter Wollseifer, of the Rheinische Post.

"44 percent of our companies willing to train are still desperately looking for trainees."

In the training year 2021, over 112,000 new training contracts have been concluded so far - 4.2 percent more than in the Corona year 2020. "The trend is positive, even if we have not yet reached the pre-crisis level of 2019."

A shortage of skilled workers could torpedo climate targets

According to the newspaper, Wollseifer warned of an even greater shortage of skilled workers at a time when skilled workers were urgently needed due to increased climate protection.

The parties gave a lot of thought to climate targets.

"But they have far too little on their radar that we need sufficiently well-trained craftsmen to implement the tasks in climate protection," said Wollseifer.

Climate goals threatened to fail due to a lack of skilled workers. "After all, someone has to install the solar roofs and charging stations or renovate buildings in an energy-efficient manner."