Overview

• Senator Cansel Kiziltepe has prepared a draft law for an apprenticeship levy requiring all employers to contribute to a training fund based on wage costs.
• The levy aims to subsidize companies offering apprenticeships, addressing Berlin's shortage of training positions, with only 72 spots available per 100 applicants.
• Mayor Kai Wegner criticized the proposal as untimely and economically burdensome, urging a focus on creating new apprenticeships instead.
• The levy was a contingency measure outlined in the 2023 CDU-SPD coalition agreement, to be triggered if the target of 2,000 additional apprenticeships by 2025 is unmet.
• A broad consultation process has been launched for the draft law, with plans to finalize it by summer 2026 if apprenticeship targets are not achieved.