BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – In view of the advancing digitalization, advisors to the federal government are proposing a legal right to professional training. In order to prevent unemployment, Germany must establish a system that also enables older people to obtain qualified further training, argued the experts on the Scientific Advisory Board at the Federal Ministry of Economics on Thursday. The recommendation is part of a current report that the experts on the future of work have drawn up.
By no means all companies are active when it comes to enabling their employees on the job professional training, said Advisory Board member Jens Sdekum, Professor of International Economics at the Heinrich Heine University in Dsseldorf. A legal entitlement to further training could help to close this gap. However, it must be designed in such a way that companies can define for themselves what type of further training is in their interest.
So far, a legal entitlement to further vocational training has not been part of the Federal Government’s plans. Federal Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil (SPD) announced at the beginning of the year that he wanted to significantly expand further training in Germany. Among other things, the minister intends to give employees a government-sponsored break for further training.
The experts on the Scientific Advisory Board warned against underestimating the upcoming challenges on the labor market. It is true that Germany is not currently heading towards mass unemployment due to technological change. However, that does not mean that “problematic labor market and distribution effects” cannot occur “with the forthcoming waves of digitization”.
Structural unemployment could develop in Germany if jobs were cut in some sectors and at the same time skilled workers were desperately needed in others. According to the experts, this could result in a “mismatch” with unemployment on the one hand and innovative jobs without the right skilled workers on the other. “Politicians should adjust to this situation,” warned Sdekum. A technological “catch-up process” is also necessary. With many of the new technologies, Germany “no longer has the status of a global technology leader”, the experts stated./faa/DP/jha