Overview
- The Handwerk recorded about 67,800 new training contracts between January and June 2026, a 4.9% rise year on year that industry president Jörg Dittrich confirmed on Sunday.
- Dittrich and other leaders attribute the increase to young people reassessing career paths because of AI, visible image and recruitment campaigns, better pay prospects in some trades, and cutbacks in industry apprenticeship places.
- Chambers of crafts still list roughly 20,460 open apprenticeship posts on their job boards, which points to regional mismatch and timing frictions even as starts climb.
- The sector is pressing the government for major funding to renovate ageing Bildungszentren, legal recognition of vocational training on par with academic routes, and an extension of the regional placement programme 'Passgenaue Besetzung und Willkommenslotsen' beyond its planned end in 2027.
- Official wage data from April 2025 show wide pay variation across trades and lower average earnings in many occupations, a gap that industry warns must be closed to convert rising interest into long-term retention and to protect the recent gains.