WKÖ counters AK figures: “There is no apprenticeship gap in Austria”

KURIER: Almost 24,500 young people are looking for an apprenticeship – but according to AK and ÖGB there are only 5,963 open apprenticeships. What’s going on there?

Manfred Denk: We cannot understand these numbers. You have to ask the AK and the ÖGB why they ignore the majority of the open apprenticeships. The AMS figures say something different: there were 17,564 open apprenticeships reported across Austria at the end of January 2026. There were 13,507 young people looking for an apprenticeship. So there is no apprenticeship gap nationwide, but thousands of open positions.

There is also talk of a low level of apprentice training.

This is simply explained. Today we have 42,000 fewer young people (aged 15 to 20) in Austria than twenty years ago. Of course, we miss these as apprentices. The proportion of young people completing an apprenticeship has been around 40 percent since 1995. Unfortunately, this proportion has declined in the last two years. This is where it is important to start and communicate the apprenticeship as the top training that it actually is: with better job prospects and higher income than, for example, with a high school diploma.

Are companies less willing to provide training?

No, more than half of the companies would like to provide more training, but do not receive any suitable applications. I have already been able to help 120 apprentices get good vocational training in my own company. We are fortunate that the plumbing profession is again in great demand as a “green job” among young people. Other companies from other sectors find it much more difficult. And these companies should be branded as “lazy when it comes to training” because they can’t find apprentices? And maybe even pay a fine? That would be absurd and would not produce a single apprentice. The constant badmouthing of apprenticeships and company bashing certainly doesn’t help us to attract more apprentices.

Why is the number of companies offering training decreasing?

A development that worries us in trade and craft: training is shifting from small to larger companies. This is also why the number of training companies is declining – around half only have one apprentice. If one of these companies does not find a new apprentice, it is no longer included in the statistics and is no longer considered a training company. We are an SME country: it must continue to be possible and affordable for small companies to train apprentices.

What are the biggest hurdles for training companies?

Not only is it more difficult for training companies to find apprentices, the financial and personnel costs have also increased enormously. We feel this particularly strongly in trade and craft after six years of recession. Apprenticeship training is a significant investment for a company. There is no fully comprehensive insurance, namely cost coverage by the public sector as in inter-company training, for companies. The companies have made advance payments with higher apprentice incomes so that apprenticeships remain attractive. It is all the more incomprehensible why the Ministry of Social Affairs is delaying the payment of state apprenticeship funding. In addition, where the companies offer the most favorable training for the state. An apprenticeship on behalf of the AMS (inter-company training) costs the state three times as much, and a place at a university four times as much. Is a student really worth more to the state than a young professional?