Last year, the Number of training companies in Austria a new Long-term low This fell to 27.083The largest decline in company-based training providers was in the trade and craft sectors, as well as in the commerce sector, according to a report submitted to Parliament by the ÖVP-led Ministry of Labour and Economic Affairs.
The company-sponsored apprenticeship funding, which is intended to increase the number of trainees, will rise from EUR 270 million in 2023 to EUR 280 million this year.
The report notes positively that in 2023, 34,082 apprentices in the first year of training the level of Pre-Corona year 2019 was at least slightly exceeded. Overall, the number of around 100,000 apprentices at the end of 2023 was slightly higher than the corresponding figure from 2019.
Labour shortage in tourism and hospitality
However, in the tourism/hospitality/hotel industry sector, which is particularly in the tourist federal states in the west with a Labor shortage Despite a slight increase compared to 2022, the total number of 7,189 apprentices This is less than half of the number of young people who were doing an apprenticeship in this sector in 2008. Back then, there were 14,755.
According to the ministry, this showed Tourism sector the strongest Apprentice slump of the past 15 years. Minister of Labour and Economic Affairs Martin Kocher (ÖVP)who is designated as the next Governor of the Austrian National Bank (OeNB), attributes this not least to the Effects the Corona Pandemic back.
State funding for apprenticeships should help
In view of the declining number of training companies and the expected wave of retirements in the coming years, the state Apprenticeship funding important support for companies to contain the Skilled labor shortage according to the department.
Among the federal states, the one that stood out last year was Industrial country applicable Upper Austria with the most apprentices (22,521), albeit with a slight decrease compared to 2022 (22,678). In contrast, Vienna had the biggest increase of apprentices, from 17,697 (2022) to 18,215 (2023).
Too few female IT apprentices
According to parliamentary correspondence, the number of apprentices in the new IT apprenticeships rose sharply across Austria between 2017 and last year – from 520 trainees in the first year of training to 968 most recently. But not even a fifth (18.4 percent) of these IT apprentices were last year female.
Supply and demand vary greatly depending on the region
The report describes the proportion of young people in an age group in Austria as a whole who decide to start an apprenticeship as fairly stable at around 39 percent based on preliminary data for 2023. However, the authors of the report point out that the relationship between labor supply and demand is regionally unequal.
In the western federal states a higher shortage of skilled workers than in the east of Austria, although a larger proportion of young people start an apprenticeship in the west. The report shows the proportion of apprenticeship dropouts to be 19.8 percent (as of 2022). From the ministry’s point of view, compulsory training is crucial to prevent dropouts.