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A Kingdom, no, a Mercedes, for an Apprentice. In February, Kfz-Mechanikermeister Patrick Lippick from Oberzent, Hesse, caused a stir with an action that involved a historical Mercedes of the G-Class. He was seeking two apprentices and lured them with the offer of the car upon signing a contract. The apprentices would then be allowed to restore the vehicle in their free time under his guidance in his workshop. All they had to do was attend vocational school regularly and pass the final exam with a grade better than 3. The vintage car, then worth between 30,000 to 40,000 euros, would belong to them.
300 applicants applied to Lippick. 20 were invited for preliminary work, and he selected two, but one applicant withdrew. The reason was that the company was moving to Bavaria soon. Lippick found one apprentice. "We only demand what was normal for us," said the 51-year-old master craftsman.
Over 200,000 Apprenticeship Positions Unfilled
Lippick has experience in finding apprentices. He has been running his master's business since 1997. It has become "increasingly difficult" to find apprentices. Lippick is not alone in this problem. Last year, more apprenticeship positions remained unfilled than ever before. According to a study by the Institute for Employment Research, 35 percent of apprenticeship positions could not be filled. In 2010, it was 15 percent.
Other studies come to similar results: Last year, nearly half (49 percent) of companies could not fill their apprenticeship positions. This is a new negative record. More than a third of companies reported receiving no applications at all. According to the German Industry and Commerce Chamber, which collected the data, this affects around 30,000 companies in Germany. In July 2024, there were 204,000 unfilled apprenticeship positions, with around 20,000 in the skilled trades alone, according to the Federal Employment Agency.
Master Lippick has his own theory about the cause of the shortage of apprentices. "It's a self-made problem of the parents' households," he believes. "They don't have the trades on their radar anymore. They say: 'Learn something better, don't kill yourself.' You can make money easier and send the kids to university – regardless of whether they make it or not." But, the master craftsman points out: "We can't all sit at the laptop and make money, that doesn't work. We need some people who work with their hands too."
Rather to University than to the Workshop
Indeed, young people in Germany prefer to go to university instead of the workshop or office after school. Almost 2.9 million students were enrolled at German universities in the winter semester 2023/24. Around 1.2 million were in vocational training by the end of 2022. There are more than twice as many students as apprentices. Money likely plays a role. The Federal Statistical Office has calculated that full-time employees who have completed vocational training earned an average of 3,521 euros gross in April 2022. Those with a master's, technician's, or vocational school degree earned 4,826 euros.
A bachelor's degree brings an average income of 4,551 euros. And a master's degree 6,188 euros. Even for employed individuals with a doctorate or habilitation, the average income was as high as 8,687 euros. However, the Institute for Applied Economics at the University of Tübingen found in 2019 that incomes are converging to the point where "it is just as worthwhile to become a master craftsman or technician as it is to pursue a university degree".
More Prestige through A-Levels and University
But it's not just about money, prestige also plays a role. Education researcher Rainer Dollase from Bielefeld University surveyed 6,500 men and women about the information they consider important for evaluating others. The respondents consistently ranked the following six factors in this order: school leaving certificate, occupation, age, gender, nationality, and religion. "For many, education still seems to start with the Abitur," complained Josef Kraus, author and former president of the German Teachers' Association, at an expert conference on the topic of "Academic glut versus skilled labor shortage".
In fact, many enroll in university even if they're not interested in the subject. "Many don't really want genuine academic education – they want respect and prestige," writes Dollase. This false educational snobbery has consequences: nearly a third (28 percent) drop out of their bachelor's degree.
This educational snobbery is widespread and evident when local newspapers only publish the names of those who have passed their A-Levels, as if this is the only school leaving certificate worth public recognition. It's evident when Dirk Rossmann, one of Germany's wealthiest people, is asked in an interview if he regrets not having an Abitur, like he was recently. Such questions imply that not having an Abitur is a deficiency.
Rossmann built an empire after completing an apprenticeship as a druggist. Robert Geiss also founded the fashion business Uncle Sam after leaving school with Hauptschule. The rest is history. Nowadays, one can follow the wealth of the family on television. Rossmann and Geiss would probably be the ideal professors for a guest lectureship in business administration at university. Educational snobbery reached its peak in the scandalous question of whether someone without an Abitur could become Chancellor, which journalists asked in 2017 when Martin Schulz (SPD) was a candidate.
Apprenticeship Shortage Worsens Skilled Labor Shortage
Carpenters who can install windows on the 20th floor don't need two foreign languages or Latin. They simply leave school a few years earlier because they're urgently needed. The current apprenticeship shortage will exacerbate the already existing skilled labor shortage. Never before have people in Germany had to wait so long for craftsmen. In Central Germany, it can take weeks, sometimes even months, for a craftsman to arrive, as the MDR has found.
The station surveyed 22,000 people in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia about their experiences. Two out of three craft businesses complained that they can't fill open positions. The situation is similar in the west. In North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous federal state, people have to wait an average of nearly ten weeks to find a craftsman, according to the Chamber of Crafts Düsseldorf. If craftsmen become even scarcer, it's likely that they will overtake academics in terms of salary. Nevertheless, the number of master's examinations taken within 20 years has fallen from 9.3 million to 6.9 million.
Automotive Master Patrick Lippick is looking for two apprentices again in 2025. "We have enough work," he says. His company is one of the few in Germany that specializes in maintaining the Mercedes G-Class. "Our apprentice learns everything here – from bodywork, painting, mechanics, upholstery, they're involved in every aspect." And the offer with the classic Mercedes also applies in the coming year.
The current apprenticeship shortage in Germany is a significant issue, with over 200,000 unfilled positions reported by the Federal Employment Agency in July 2024, including around 20,000 in the skilled trades. This shortage is affecting many companies, including Master Lippick's training market in the automotive sector.
In the face of this shortage, many young people in Germany are opting for university education instead of vocational training or apprenticeships, with nearly 2.9 million students enrolled in universities in the winter semester 2023/24, more than twice as many as those in vocational training. This educational snobbery, as described by education researcher Rainer Dollase, is leading to a misplaced prioritization of prestige over practical skills, resulting in a significant number of university students dropping out of their bachelor's programs and contributing to the skilled labor shortage.
