Profession | Too few training places

Young people can complete training in Schwedt. But PCK Raffinerie GmbH must continue to persevere. Photo: dpa/Patrick Pleul For many years, the employment agency advised young people who could not find a training place in Berlin to try the surrounding area. In Brandenburg, the number of vacant apprenticeships significantly exceeded the number of school leavers interested in training. But that looks different now and is a problem.

In Berlin three years ago there were still 16,813 training places compared to the 21,176 applicants at the time. This gap has now widened even further. There are only 14,490 training places left for every 24,716 applicants. Three years ago, 12,370 applicants in Brandenburg had 15,319 training places to choose from. This gap has widened. There are 13,299 applicants and 13,706 training positions in the state. This means: There is no longer much space for applicants from Berlin. It's just enough for your own youth.

“It is currently more difficult than it has been for a long time for young people to find training, especially in Berlin.”

“It is currently more difficult than it has been for a long time for young people to find training, especially in Berlin,” regrets Carina Knie-Nuremberg. She heads the regional directorate of the employment agency.

“The tense economic situation must not be at the expense of young people, who have had to bear a lot in recent years,” says Nele Techen, vice national chairwoman of the DGB trade union umbrella organization. She says: “We have to do everything we can to secure dual training and ensure more in-company training places.”

Brandenburg's State Secretary for Social Affairs, Friederike Haase, thinks things are going in the right direction, as the number of jobs has increased again compared to last year. But for BSW state chairwoman Friederike Benda, this is just window dressing. The mini-plus of 1.3 percent in reported positions cannot hide the fact that in Brandenburg, compared to 2021, “over 1,600 training positions have been lost, companies have canceled more than 4,000 reported positions and the bottom line is that significantly fewer young people were once again able to start an apprenticeship.” At the same time, the number of unemployed young people under the age of 25 has climbed to almost 8,500.

Benda speaks of a triple failure: Firstly, a failed economic and energy policy, together with suicidal sanctions against Russia, are oppressing companies so much that the training rate only increases because thousands of companies that do not provide training disappear completely from the market. Secondly, the years of educational misery would take revenge if over 2,300 unemployed young people in Brandenburg could not even show a secondary school leaving certificate and companies lacked applicants capable of training. Thirdly, training fails due to the lack of affordable housing for trainees. »Instead of glossing over the crisis with slogans of perseverance, the state government must finally renovate our schools, advocate for education reforms, relieve the burden on middle classes with affordable energy and ensure affordable apartments for trainees!«

After all: an apprentice dormitory with 60 places in single and double rooms is being built in Schwedt. There is 14 million euros in funding from the EU for this. “In the future, young people in Schwedt will not only be able to complete a good education, but also live cheaply,” says Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD). The PCK refinery in Schwedt, which is affected by the import ban on Russian crude oil, is currently operating at just over 86 percent capacity. Woidke is grateful that this “was able to be kept stable this year despite all the difficulties”.

Bundestag member Christian Görke (Left) is reminded of a “sleeping car train” in which “heaps of tranquilizers are being distributed.” He keeps hearing announcements. "But if real measures are not taken soon, the PCK will continue to be managed to death." This is bad for the 3,000 people whose livelihoods depend directly or indirectly on the refinery, and for millions of people who need gasoline.

85,029 people from Brandenburg were registered as unemployed in October and 223,254 from Berlin. In the capital, the unemployment rate rose from 10.3 to 10.4 percent compared to October last year, and in the surrounding area from 6.2 to 6.3 percent.

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