More young people in Upper Bavaria choose skilled trades

More young people in Upper Bavaria are choosing apprenticeships in the skilled trades, BR24 reports. Among them is 19-year-old Amelie Vorholz from Landsberg, who decided to train as a carpenter specialising in timber construction despite having completed her Abitur.

Under the hot midday sun, Vorholz works on the frame of a wooden house under construction in Windach, in the Landsberg am Lech district. The ground is eight metres below her on one side, while a wooden beam swings from a crane on the other. Calmly, she works with her colleagues to position a ceiling section.

“It has to fit into the gap and be threaded in,” she says. Soon the component is in place. Screwing, drilling and measuring have become part of her daily routine.

Vorholz began her apprenticeship at Holzbau Fichtl two years ago, directly after completing secondary school. “After graduating, I simply did not want to start studying straight away and just keep learning, but do something practical, work with people and be outdoors,” she says.

She is not alone. Skilled-trade businesses in Bavaria have signed seven percent more apprenticeship contracts this year than during the same period last year. However, many positions remain vacant.

Alexander Tauscher of the Chamber of Skilled Crafts for Munich and Upper Bavaria says the shortage of applicants has persisted for years. At the end of July, around 8,000 apprenticeship positions in Upper Bavaria were still unfilled, according to figures from Bavaria’s Regional Directorate for Labour. About 6,000 young people were looking for an apprenticeship.

Open positions and applicants do not always match, says Mareike Steveling of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce Academy for Munich and Upper Bavaria. There is a clear urban rural divide: Munich has comparatively many applicants, while rural areas have more vacancies. Some traditional occupations are particularly difficult to fill. Jobs for bank and insurance clerks are no longer as popular as they once were, while interest in professions connected with wood processing is growing, according to the chamber.

That trend is also evident at Holzbau Fichtl, where many young people work. Some joined through internships, while others discovered timber construction through their schools or apprenticeship fairs. Managing director Stefan Fichtl deliberately builds these contacts, and the strategy appears to be working. His company now has more applicants than apprenticeship places.

Pay is no longer the only factor young people consider when choosing an apprenticeship. A recent survey by the DGB youth organisation found that more than one in three apprentices in Bavaria receive financial support from parents or acquaintances. For companies, this makes it increasingly important to offer more than a training position. Steveling says young people also look at workplace culture, appreciation and opportunities to participate.

Vorholz plans to continue working on building sites after completing her apprenticeship and gain experience. Seeing what she has achieved at the end of the day is important to her. She can still imagine going to university later, but for now she is continuing to work on the wooden house in Windach.

Women account for around six percent of apprentices in Bavaria’s timber construction trade and just under 20 percent of apprentices in the skilled trades overall. Vorholz does not see her smaller build as an obstacle. “Women are smaller, so sometimes you need the ladder more often. But you can also ask for help,” she says.