Demographic changes in East Germany: Ever more school leavers find their apprenticeship positions at home

Abstract

"In East Germany massive demographic changes caused by the post re-unification birth drop are responsible for a tremendous decline in VET applicants in the present. The number of applicants used to exceed the number of new apprentices by up to 50% in East Germany. Over the last four years however, the number of applicants dropped and now evens the number of new apprentices. One of the side effects of this development is that regional mobility of East German apprentices has dropped respectively. In the past, more than 9% of East German apprentices commuted to West Germany in order to find an apprenticeship position. In 2011, this share is only about 4%. Although regional disparities between urban and rural areas remain, both the intensity and distance of regional mobility have decreased all over East Germany due to the demographic changes. Eventually, ever more school leavers find their apprenticeship positions at home or nearby." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Seibert, H. & Wesling, M. (2012): Demografische Veränderungen in Ostdeutschland: Jugendliche finden immer öfter eine Lehrstelle vor Ort. (IAB-Kurzbericht 16/2012), Nürnberg, 7 p.