Ten percent of 20- to 24-year-olds in Germany were not in education, training or employment last year — a low rate by European standards, the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden announced on Monday. The share has, however, edged upwards in recent years: in 2022, 8.8 percent of 20- to 24-year-olds were neither in training nor in a job.
"The German training system, and the dual system in particular, is valued internationally for creating secure transitions between training and the labour market," said Bettina Kohlrausch, scientific director of the Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI) at the Hans Böckler Foundation. "The fact that the number of young people and young adults who are neither in training nor in work lies below the EU average reflects this strength."
According to the statistics, the EU average last year stood at 13.9 percent. The lowest shares were recorded in the Netherlands at 5.6 percent, Sweden at 7.3 percent and the Czech Republic at 7.6 percent. The highest were in Romania at 22.8 percent, Bulgaria at 17.3 percent and France at 16.2 percent.
Kohlrausch nevertheless described it as "worrying" that the figure in Germany has risen compared with 2022. "This shows that the situation regarding training places for young people and young adults has deteriorated." A growing proportion of young people, she said, are no longer managing the transition from school into training, and from training into work.
Citing the 2024 national education report, the statistics office sets out a range of possible reasons: 20 percent of economically inactive 20- to 24-year-olds cited caring responsibilities, 18 percent health limitations and 17 percent education-related reasons — such as waiting for a university or training place. Six percent were about to begin training or start a new job. Twenty-five percent said they were currently looking for work.
Kohlrausch called for "urgently more good training opportunities and support for young people and young adults so that they can successfully navigate the path into training and then into the labour market." One important step, she said, would be "a genuine training guarantee" giving every young person a right to a training place. To achieve this, however, the existing rules would have to be expanded and further developed.
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