Abstract

The number of employees subject to social security contributions has increased nationwide between 2010 and 2016 by almost six percent. That sounds good, but it lags far behind the overall employment dynamics (+ 12.5%). Even in the training sector, the craft is losing ground. However, the employment and training situation differs significantly depending on the federal state and craft trade group.
In the public discussion and reporting on the current situation in the German craft shows a very mixed picture. Estimates range from job creation across the entire craft sector to blatant personnel shortages and a shortage of young people who are in danger of existence, from an all-time high in orders to worries about the disappearance of many small craft businesses and the simultaneous growth of the medium and large (Zentralverband des deutschen Handwerks 2017) State Representation of the Chambers of Crafts Lower Saxony 2017).
The fact that the situation in the German trades is uneven is also confirmed by the first results presented in the project. Thus, the development not only from state to state, but also within the individual trade groups of the craft, very different.