A large share of young people from the primary asylum-origin countries of Syria and Afghanistan have no recognised vocational qualification. In 2025, 74.5 percent of Syrians between the ages of 25 and 34 living in Germany had no vocational qualification, while the figure for Afghans stood at 72.1 percent.
The data come from the Mikrozensus, Germany's largest annual household survey, which the Federal Ministry of Education provided in response to a parliamentary inquiry submitted by the AfD parliamentary group, and which was cited by Welt am Sonntag.
Among young people from Somalia, the share was even higher, at 85.8 percent. By comparison, the proportion of Germans in the same age group, 25 to 34, without a vocational qualification was significantly lower, at 13.9 percent. In total, more than one million people of foreign origin in that age group had no formal professional qualification, representing a rate of 42.1 percent.
René Springer, the AfD's parliamentary spokesperson on labour policy, described the situation as a serious shortcoming. "We will not solve the shortage of skilled workers by importing a precariat with no education en masse," he told Welt am Sonntag.
A spokesperson for the Federal Ministry for Education, Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth told the newspaper that the ministry had no current studies that would explain the high share of Syrian and Afghan nationals recorded in the Mikrozensus as having no vocational qualification.
The ministry did, however, refer to a study covering migrants who arrived in Germany between 2015 and 2017. Many of them had been young at the time of their arrival, and it was reasonable to assume that war, persecution, and the experience of flight had frequently led to disrupted educational histories.
The ministry also noted that Syria and Afghanistan have no vocational training system comparable to the German model. "Many skilled trades, technical professions, and commercial occupations are practised there, in part, without any formal training." The absence of formal qualifications as recorded in the Mikrozensus should therefore not be equated with an absence of skills.
Despite these contextual factors, the ministry acknowledged that the high proportion of formally unqualified individuals remained a concern. "Young people without a vocational qualification are exposed to a range of risks," the spokesperson said. They face significantly reduced long-term prospects for good employment and an adequate income.
In response, the ministry announced it had launched a Qualifizierungsoffensive Berufliche Bildung, a qualification drive aimed at improving access to vocational training.
The Mikrozensus is the largest annual household survey conducted as part of Germany's official statistics programme. It has been carried out jointly by the federal and state statistical offices since 1957. Around one percent of the population is surveyed each year, serving as a representative sample for the population as a whole.
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