Skip to main content

Well-prepared with dual training

A good vocational education is the foundation for a successful working life – important facts and figures about Germany.

18.11.2022
Dual vocational training: learning at the workplace
Dual vocational training: learning at the workplace © picture alliance / Rupert Oberhäuser

The dual vocational training system in Germany represents an important foundation for secure employment. You will find the most important facts and figures on the topic here.
 

  • 1.25 million people in Germany were employed as trainees in 2021; 65.5% of them were men. In 2011, 1.47 million people were engaged in vocational training.
  • 466,200 new training contracts were concluded in 2021. The number has been falling by single-digit percentage figures for a number of years.
  • One fifth of all contracts were concluded in the five most popular occupational groups: retail sales personnel (24,300), office management assistants (22,900), sales assistants (20,100), motor vehicle mechatronic technicians (19,900) and medical specialists (17,400).
  • There is especially strong demand for careers in the IT sector: IT specialists (15,800 new contracts, plus 5%), e-commerce sales assistants (1,900, plus 26%) and warehouse logistics specialists (important for the online retail trade [10,300, plus 11%]).
  • 90% of all trainees successfully complete their training.
  • 95.3% of the graduates of dual vocational training programmes have a job on completing their training.
  • 68% of trainees continue to be employed by their training enterprise when they complete their vocational training.
  • 646,188 people were employed in a dual vocational training programme in trade and industry at the end of December 2021; 60,948 of them did not hold German citizenship. The figures for the skilled trades were 307,263 and 49,362 respectively.
  • 46,900 professional qualifications acquired abroad were recognised in Germany in 2021. That was 5% more than in 2020. You can find more information on recognition here.
  • The most common professional qualifications acquired outside Germany in 2021 were in the sectors: healthcare and nursing (19,752), physiotherapy (1,359) and care working (1,056). The top three countries of origin were Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Philippines and Serbia.


© www.deutschland.de

You would like to receive regular information about Germany? Subscribe here: