Training is great. Everyone agrees on this – rarely enough in politics. So you would think that instruments that bring more young people into training would be supported as much as possible. The Senate finally initiated the Alliance for Training for this purpose. So much for the theory.
In practice, however, there is currently a bad rumor making the rounds that concerns, of all things, support for a training model that has been successful for years: joint training. To put it simply, this is something like training sharing: companies that cannot train on their own because of their size or specialization, for example, share the task with others.
Tagesspiegel Checkpoint: Berlin’s most popular newsletter
The fastest overview of Berlin from Monday to Friday.
The trainee is employed by a company and completes parts of the training in the affiliated companies. Around 500 companies train almost 900 young people. Because the joint training involves more effort for the “main training company”, the Senate supports it as part of the so-called guideline funding.
Jan Eder is the long-time managing director of the Berlin Chamber of Industry and Commerce.
But the funding expires in mid-2025 and now it is said that it will not be extended. Austerity measures, you already know. Yes, we know about the budget situation. But that is precisely why the increasingly scarce money must be invested in a future-oriented manner. In our view, making training possible where it would otherwise not take place is precisely such an investment in the future – that of the young people and the location.
In any case, there is a great lack of understanding among companies and the reluctance to take part in joint training given the uncertain conditions is already noticeable. If the Alliance for Training mentioned at the beginning is really about getting more young people into training and not just enforcing the absurd training levy, then the rumors should be put to rest as soon as possible. Otherwise, the Senate will thwart its own goals.
In the “In the Lobby” column, leading figures in Berlin’s business community comment on the situation.
