Taking the pulse of Swiss apprenticeship: should we be worried?

By Katie Caves

According to the Federal Bureau of Statistics, a total of 220,894 young people in Switzerland completed dual vocational education and training (VET) in 2019 (BSF 2020). In 2017, 162,000 young adults faced the decision of whether to pursue VET or general education.
According to the Apprenticeship Barometer, 82,500 of these young people opted for dual VET (LINK Institute 2017). For the Swiss economy and the development of skilled workers, apprenticeships have a central function.

The research project focuses on Swiss apprenticeships and analyses the effects of COVID-19 on the work-based section of apprenticeship training over the period of one year. This analysis will provide VET/PET actors with evidence-based information that will help them create and initiate group-specific actions.

The research project focuses on three distinct groups of young people (see external pageFaktenblattJugendgruppencall_made):

• Young people looking for and choosing apprenticeships (G1)
• Current apprentices who are not in their final year (G2)
• Current apprentices who are in their final year (of a 2-, 3- or 4-year apprenticeship (G3)

Good News

The analysis of the first survey sheds light on the following developments:

• 92% of apprenticeships originally offered for next fall still exist
• 22% of surveyed companies that offer training claimed that they can offer additional apprenticeship places in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Concerning Facts

• The surveyed companies claim that 5.5% of this fall’s new apprenticeships will be cut.
  
  
• 2.8% of the new apprenticeship positions this fall have already been cut due to COVID 19.

One-fourth of apprenticeship positions are still vacant

In April 2020, the surveyed companies stated that only 76% of their apprenticeship places were filled. Even the most popular occupational fields such as information technology, planning & construction, retail trade, business administration and tourism had vacancies, with only around 87-94% of apprenticeship positions filled. Among positions in building technology, only 44 % were filled.

According to the VPET Act, the Swiss Confederation should monitor imbalances in the apprenticeship market and take measures if necessary (Art. 13 BBG, 2015). Since many economic forecasts predict a downturn in the second half of this year, special attention must be paid to the apprenticeship market. In doing so, the different recruitment phases between German and Latin Switzerland must be taken into account (see external pageFaktenblattLehrstellenmarktcall_made).

Figure 1 shows that in the lockdown phase, 66% of the apprentices included in the study (G2, G3) were able to complete the work-based part of their apprenticeship at work as usual (subject to federally-mandated protective measures). 27% of apprentices were only able to
work at a limited capacity, for example in a different department. 36% worked from home. However, some are unable to perform the work-based part of the apprenticeship. Instead, 20 % received homework and 9% were not able to do anything.