The battle for apprentices

“The typical male profession no longer exists”

With 23,285 apprentices, there was even an increase in Upper Austria last year. "This makes us the number one apprenticeship state in Austria, but there could still be 1000 more people doing an apprenticeship," says WKOÖ President Doris Hummer.

Retail trade ahead of office clerk and hairdresser for girls, metal technology, electrical engineering and automotive technology for boys - the "finish line" for the three most popular apprenticeships in 2019 remained completely unchanged from the previous year.

Metal technology popular
However, the metal technology sector in particular is on the rise. "One in five people choose a metal profession," says Fritz Dallamaßl, education policy expert at the Upper Austrian Chamber of Commerce. Girls are also becoming more technology-oriented: last year, metal technology was the fourth most popular field of training for the first time. Especially when it comes to convincing girls to do an apprenticeship, "we often have to clear up misconceptions first", says WKOÖ President Doris Hummer. Many do not even have apprenticeships on their radar. Instead, they continue to pursue a traditional school education. "But the typical male profession no longer exists, the hard work is done by the machine. There are many jobs where you don't get your hands dirty," says Hummer.

"Skills shortage weakens companies"
980 apprenticeships were vacant on average over the year. "The shortage of skilled workers is weakening companies," said Hummer. There are currently 5379 training companies in the province, and the trend is falling. "Smaller companies in particular can no longer find apprentices," says Dallamaßl. An example of the bottleneck is the situation at BMW dealer Kneidinger in Haslach, where Jürgen Stockinger completed his apprenticeship with distinction in July: four apprentices are currently being trained there. "We would like to have more, but there are none available," say Johann and Daniela Kneidinger.