2023-08-01 04:09:35
helper activity
As helper activities are increasingly disappearing, the need for flexibility and communication is increasing.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin With the shortage of skilled workers, the focus is also on the approximately nine million unskilled and semi-skilled workers, for whom there are fewer and fewer jobs. More and more companies train the low-skilled in the company. This is shown by a study by the German Economic Institute (IW), which is available to the Handelsblatt.
Because to the extent that simple helper activities disappear, the demand for flexibility and communication increases – but also for basic skills. “The companies in particular, which are already having major recruitment problems, are recognizing that they have to cope with the structural change with the workforce they have – and they have to qualify them themselves, even with elementary knowledge,” says the education expert at the IW, Axel Plünnecke.
Steffen Kampeter, General Manager of Employers (BDA), also says that the need to train basic skills has increased. “More and more companies see the opportunity and need to help employees to close gaps in reading, writing, arithmetic or even basic IT skills.
The potential is greatest among immigrants, but also among locals who have been unemployed or ill for a long time. In addition, there are young people without school or vocational qualifications who have entered the job market as helpers,” says Kampeter, describing the breadth of the task. “For everyone, a basic education also gives them the opportunity to gain further qualifications – up to and including vocational training.”
More and more courses in companies
In the IW survey at the end of 2022, around 20 percent of the companies surveyed stated that they organize reading and writing courses for non-Germans – in 2014 it was still eight percent. But twelve percent also offer reading and writing courses for German-speaking employees – compared to four percent in 2014. A good six percent now organize arithmetic courses, and even 20 percent organize basic IT courses. Although the results are not exactly comparable because the group of participants has changed somewhat, they show a clear upward trend, said Plünnecke.
According to federal government data, in 2018 there were still 6.2 million people in Germany who could not read and write properly. Only adults between the ages of 18 and 64 who speak German so well that they could answer questions for an hour were considered.
The federal government had already started an “Alpha Decade” in 2016. In 2022, business training centers from eight federal states joined forces in the “AlphaGrund networks” project and, with federal funds, organized basic training measures on site in the companies.
“It is important that the courses are integrated into everyday work,” explained Kampeter. “In this shelter, it is easier for many to admit deficits – and at the same time they feel the success immediately, which also increases their self-confidence.”
The BDA boss demands that the funding from the Ministry of Education, which will run until the end of 2024, must continue. However, the employers from eight mainly smaller federal states are not yet included, especially those from the city states. At the same time, the employers cooperate with the basic education initiative of the DGB “Work and Life”.
group difficult to reach
The clientele is less easy to reach than other groups. In the IW survey, almost three quarters of the companies say that the low-skilled prefer to take part in face-to-face rather than digital courses – partly because they lack the technical equipment. Almost two-thirds criticize that digital offers are often not didactically suitable for this group.
The previous funding measures of the Federal Employment Agency were hardly suitable for basic education measures. Recently, the citizen’s income has made significantly more possible: now, according to Section 81 of the Third Book of the Social Code, employment agencies can also promote basic education if this creates the basis for further training or, in general, “improves employability”. The agencies must now “actively pursue this” in their employer service, Kampeter demands, and promises that “the employers’ associations will do the same”.
However, the associations make it clear that basic knowledge for Germans is the task of schools: “The economy must be able to rely on the fact that the school leaving certificate provides a basic education in all school subjects,” says Oliver, the education expert at the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK). heikaus
But that is not the case: for years, after the studies for the Conference of Ministers of Education, the performance of the students has been declining, and Corona has exacerbated the trend. In the meantime, 22 percent of fourth graders do not reach the minimum standards in math.
>>Read here: New record: There are far more young people in Germany without vocational training than previously thought
DIHK surveys show that companies are increasingly taking on underperforming trainees. For deficits, for example in German or mathematics, there is often tutoring. “Experience has shown that a lack of interest in the job or a lack of social skills are much more difficult to make up for,” says Heikaus.
More: The educational level of Germans is declining
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