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Job Agency Maintains Over 10,000 Job Openings Remaining

Unfilled Training Positions Persist at Employment Office - Approximately 10,000 Vacancies Remain

Unfilled positions persist in numerous apprenticeships across Saxony.
Unfilled positions persist in numerous apprenticeships across Saxony.

Vacant Apprenticeship Positions Persist, Affecting Almost 10,000 Applicants at Federal Employment Agency - Job Agency Maintains Over 10,000 Job Openings Remaining

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Approximately 10,000 apprenticeship positions in Saxony remain unfilled, according to the regional office of the Federal Employment Agency. Since the start of the training year in October, over 16,500 training positions have been reported to Saxon companies, with nearly 60% still vacant.

Steffen Leonhardi, the deputy head of the Saxony regional office of the Federal Employment Agency, notes the mathematical proportion, declaring, "there is one reported training position for every registered applicant in Saxony." The objective is to connect undecided youth with potential businesses, encouraging the completion of apprenticeships.

The most reported training positions are in the fields of retail merchants, salespeople, and mechatronics engineering. These figures were released as part of the broader initiatives aimed at addressing the challenge of unfilled apprenticeships, coinciding with the federal vocational training reforms and regional measures.

To address the issue, the Training Market Labor Agency in Saxony is pursuing several strategies. These include the implementation of the vocational training guarantee under federal law, running targeted promotion campaigns, enhancing vocational language training for migrants, and supporting specialized qualification pathways for foreign professionals.

These measures aim to increase apprenticeship uptake and better match training supply with labor market demand in the region. The broader federal vocational training reforms, due to take effect on April 1, 2024, provide new funding and training allowances to support companies and trainees. Additionally, campaigns like "Vocational Training Week" actively promote apprenticeships and provide information to both youths and businesses to fill apprenticeship vacancies.

Saxony, being a more rural eastern German state, faces challenges with job vacancies often outnumbering qualified applicants. The regional job market demands German language proficiency for most skilled positions, making vocational language training a crucial component in addressing apprenticeship gaps.

Moreover, Saxony supports vocational language courses designed to integrate refugees and migrants into the labor market by improving their German language skills for professional contexts. This includes workplace-related courses prioritized since early 2025, facilitating the entry of non-German speakers into apprenticeships and vocational training.

Local initiatives, such as Leipzig University’s pilot adaptation course for foreign midwives, reflect efforts to recognize and integrate foreign-qualified professionals in Saxony’s labor market. This indirectly eases skilled labor shortages, including in apprenticeship-relevant fields.

In conclusion, the Training Market Labor Agency in Saxony is actively addressing the challenge of approximately 10,000 unfilled apprenticeships by implementing several strategic initiatives in line with recent federal vocational training reforms and regional measures.

  1. To promote career development and bridge the gap between training vacancies and applicants, the Training Market Labor Agency in Saxony is augmenting vocational training programs, especially in fields like retail merchants, salespeople, and mechatronics engineering, with insights from the federal vocational training reforms.
  2. As part of the community policy, the Training Market Labor Agency in Saxony is collaborating with Leipzig University and other institutions to implement vocational language training for migrants, enhancing their German language skills for professional contexts, thereby encouraging their participation in apprenticeships and business funding, potentially funding this through finance channels dedicated to education-and-self-development and career-development purposes.

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