BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – In the future, employees should be able to take a publicly funded training period for their further training. At the presentation of the national further training strategy on Tuesday in Berlin, Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) announced that a corresponding draft law would be presented by the end of the year. The employers reacted cautiously.
“We will introduce a new education period and part-time education,” said Heil. “Employees can take their further training into their own hands and operate it independently,” he explained. “In this way, you can achieve a career change or a better-paying job, for example if you want to move up to hotel management as a trained hotel clerk.” Heil also announced a complete reorganization of the instruments for promoting further education through the planned law.
Short-time allowance model:
Further training should also be able to be funded more by the Federal Employment Agency – similar to short-time work benefits. “We will create an instrument that we call qualification money,” announced Heil. “It’s about companies in which a larger part of the workforce is affected by transformation, especially in parts of mechanical engineering or also at newspaper publishers.” Heil explained: “If the employees are given further training on a large scale, we also want to enable support from the Federal Employment Agency with this new instrument of qualification money.”
Heil stressed the importance of the plans despite the current energy price crisis resulting from Russia’s war in Ukraine. “We must not only do crisis management, we must also tackle future projects.” Continuing education also means securing the country for the future. “We need good people to insulate houses, develop software, produce medicines.”
Reach the low-skilled:
Employer President Rainer Dulger emphasized the importance of further training. “In particular, we must reach those who are most likely to be affected by changing requirements but are least prepared for them, and we must provide them with low-threshold training opportunities,” said Dulger. Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) said: “We must facilitate access to further training – also for the low-skilled.” It should also be easier to catch up on professional qualifications – and it should even be possible to close gaps in reading, arithmetic and writing at work.
Employers skeptical:
In view of Heil’s legislative announcements, however, Dulger emphasized: “We don’t always need something new, often it is simply enough to adjust the screws a little.” Dulger also said that the new ideas (.) are not yet specific enough for him to comment on them. However, the employers’ association will deal with the ministry. The new head of the Federal Employment Agency, Andrea Nahles, did not want to evaluate the planned law either. “How that will then be threaded is not yet ready for a decision,” she said. “I don’t comment on unlaid eggs here.”
DGB wants to upgrade competencies:
Anja Piel from the board of directors of the German Federation of Trade Unions emphasized that further training is a prerequisite for the transformation of the economy to be fair and social. “The more digital progress and economic structural change gain momentum, the more the professional future of employees depends on being able to update and upgrade their skills and competencies.”
The government and social partners agreed that there was already a lot of further training. Nahles said: “The first reflex in the many transformation processes in companies in Germany is no longer: How do I get rid of my employees? In fact, the first reflex is now: How do I take them with me?” However, Dulger and Piel criticized the confusing variety of offers and funding opportunities. Heil also admitted: “The lack of clarity is sometimes palpable.”/bw/DP/ngu