Many companies are desperately looking for applicants for their apprenticeships – and would be particularly happy to have more high school graduates. But only a few high school students get a clear picture at school that promising careers are also open to them through vocational education and training, i.e. without a degree. This critical diagnosis is made by the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) and is based on a new large survey of 20,000 graduates of higher vocational education and training. These are people who, at some point after the usual vocational training, have completed advanced training and now work, for example, as certified master craftsmen, technicians or accountants.

Dietrich Creutzburg

Business correspondent in Berlin.

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"Pupils must be informed as early as the career orientation stage that they can experience an equally successful employment biography as academics in a practical way through dual training and corresponding further training," says Achim Dercks, Deputy Managing Director of the DIHK, summarizing the analysis. So far, there has been a lack of comprehensive career orientation for high school students – and even more so one that does not only run in the direction of studying. According to the survey, 58 per cent of graduates of higher vocational education and training have noticeably improved their salary and/or professional position within five years. A good fifth managed jumps of more than 750 euros a month.

Training brings benefits

This survey does not provide more detailed comparative data on the income of university graduates on the one hand and graduates of higher vocational education and training on the other. However, a study by the Tübingen Institute for Applied Economic Research (IAW) from 2019 provides information. According to the study, academics achieved an average total income of 60.1 million euros up to the age of 45 – and thus a good 40,000 euros more than certified master craftsmen or technicians over this long distance. However, the academics did not gain the income advantage until late in their professional lives: By the age of 35, further education graduates had already earned 355,000 euros, academics only 260,000 euros – about as much as trained trainees without further training had achieved up to this age.

"In the phase of starting a family, graduates of further education are in a better position," Dercks concludes. In fact, according to the DIHK survey, most participants start their advanced training between their mid-20s and mid-30s. But this qualification path also brings many advantages for companies, he says: "They can develop their own top-level workforce into specialists and managers who can and want to take on more responsibility." Higher vocational education and training is "a kind of insider tip" for career-conscious employees as well as for entrepreneurial strategies against the shortage of skilled workers.

A total of around 2.5 million employees in Germany have a higher vocational qualification. According to the DIHK, 60,000 examinations are carried out annually by the chambers of industry and commerce alone. But there could "be more". The job market for these graduates is empty: their unemployment rate is 1.2 percent, which is even lower than that of academics, which oscillates around 2 percent.

More vocational graduates for climate protection

Dercks also justifies the need for more highly qualified vocational graduates with the climate protection goal: It is not enough to train more people to install heat pumps, wind turbines or solar systems as long as it does not work well in advance: "Along the value chain - for example from development, procurement and construction to the construction of a wind turbine - the education and training qualifications of vocational education and training are available across their entire range asked."

However, the path to a higher vocational qualification is demanding in everyday life: In most cases, candidates prepare for the exam in evening courses in addition to their main job. Beyond the orientation for beginners, the chambers believe that state funding should also improve: Course and examination costs, which can also amount to 15,000 euros, are paid with the "Aufstiegs-Bafög" half as a subsidy from public funds, but the other half only as a loan. If the exam goes wrong, a lot of money is lost for those affected in addition to time.

"This is an imbalance at the expense of vocational education and training – at least as long as there is tuition-free university studies," complains Dercks. In the survey, more than half of the graduates had taken advantage of the Advancement Bafög for their further training. In the coalition agreement, the traffic light parties have agreed to close existing "funding gaps" compared to the student Bafög. Now it's time for it, says Dercks.

A sign of the equivalence of academic and vocational education and training has already been decided by the old government: In addition to the usual designations, such as masters, "Bachelor professional" or "Master professional" are now also official titles. In January, however, the Bertelsmann Foundation had already stated that there was no shortage of high school graduates in the system: The proportion of high school graduates who are just doing an apprenticeship has risen from 37 to 48 percent in the past decade. Instead of complaining about "academisation", companies should train more young people without a good school education.