According to a study conducted by the Institute of the German Economy (IW), reported by the “Rheinische Post”, one in every six trainees in Germany does not hold a German passport. This research highlights how foreign young people are increasingly compensating for the demographic shortfall in the German vocational training market. However, the decline in German youth participation continues to outweigh the growth of newcomers.
The IW noted that even in 2025, tens of thousands of training positions remained vacant, and the number of new apprenticeship contracts decreased. The problem of insufficient positions is attributed not only to issues of suitability or other problems, but critically, to a shrinking applicant pool composed exclusively of German youth.
The study details that the number of German trainees aged 15 to 35 peaked around 1.7 million in 2008, subsequently dropping by 23 percent to reach approximately 1.3 million by 2025. In contrast, the number of foreign trainees in this same age group has risen steadily, increasing from a low of about 71,338 in 2004 to around 254,967 currently. Consequently, the proportion of foreign trainees enrolled has more than tripled, growing from 5.3 percent of all trainees in 1999 to 16.3 percent in 2025.
While the increase in foreign trainees has not entirely offset the decline among German trainees, the IW study concludes that it has significantly softened the impact of the downturn. This migration has helped keep the overall vocational training segment at a relatively stable level over the past decade.
