Interview: Craft: State should pay trainees half of the driver’s license

Jörg Dittrich welcomes you in a good mood on the eighth floor of the Haus des Handwerks in the heart of Berlin. The 53-year-old master roofer from Dresden has just completed his first four weeks as President of the Central Association of German Crafts (ZDH), after Hans Peter Wollseifer had been the defining face of the central association for nine years. Dittrich begins his first term in the midst of crises and with the central task of recruiting skilled workers for the trades.

Mr. Dittrich, there is a shortage of hundreds of thousands of skilled workers in Germany. How is the situation in crafts?

Jorg Dittrich: The skilled trades face huge challenges when it comes to securing skilled workers. The demographic development is having an impact on us. In addition, many young people prefer university studies to vocational training. There is already a shortage of at least 250,000 skilled workers in the trades today, and the trend is rising. We are fighting and doing everything we can to ensure that the gap does not get bigger in the next few years, but gets smaller. But even then, I don’t think it’s realistic to close them down completely.

Is there a gap between individual regions or city and country?

Dittrich: The shortage of skilled workers affects all of Germany. In areas that are already suffering greatly from the aging of society and young people moving away, companies have a particularly difficult time, which is why it is often even more difficult for craft businesses in the East to find staff than in the West. And it’s often more difficult in the country than in the city.

What can be done about it?

Dittrich: We have to make handicrafts and vocational training more attractive. We also need political support for this. An example: Students receive heavily subsidized semester tickets for local transport. For trainees, however, there are not comparable offers everywhere. The apprentices also have to come to their company and to the vocational school. In rural areas, many employers are willing to pay their trainees a subsidy for their driver’s license or to cover the costs in full. The state should encourage that.

What are you thinking of?

Dittrich: The starting point of the considerations is: There are many craft businesses that absolutely need staff with a driver’s license. And there are many trainees who cannot afford a driver’s license – which can be another hurdle for vocational training, especially in rural areas. Companies that train young people fulfill a task in the interests of society. The best thing would be if apprentices in rural areas received a direct subsidy from the state to cover the cost of their driver’s license. He could cover about half the cost. But you could also start with the companies.

What should that look like then?

Dittrich: If companies help their trainees financially with their driver’s license, the trainees should not incur wage tax and social security as has been the case up to now. So far, case law has opposed such a tax-free and social-free subsidy of driving license costs. According to this, the assumption of costs for car driving licenses – in contrast to truck driving licenses, where a predominantly operational interest is assumed – leads to a pecuniary advantage for employees and trainees. It is argued that the apprentice basically needs the driver’s license privately. Nowadays, however, a driver’s license and their own car are no longer as desirable for many young people as they were a few years ago. Something has changed, and you should take that into account.

You run a roofing business in Dresden. How long do you have to wait for an appointment?

Dittrich: Emergency operations are of course dealt with quickly – just like in a number of other companies from a wide variety of trades. Otherwise, one can say that in many places the waiting times for larger projects are not quite as long as they were a year or two ago. If an owner wants to have the roof of his house re-roofed or a new bathroom installed, waiting times of around twelve weeks are likely to be common in many places. I don’t think that’s unreasonably long. In the specific case, the waiting times depend on the industry and the region.

Will immigration help close the skills gap?

Dittrich: Yes, they help, but they are certainly not the panacea. Immigration will be an important part of the solution. The craft has always been good at integrating people from other countries and cultures. Fortunately, there is a broad consensus in Germany today that we need more immigration into the labor market. But to be successful here, there is still a lot to be done. Administrative procedures, for example when issuing visas, must become faster. The immigration authorities must be transformed into real Welcome Centers. And of course the local authorities are also asked to help immigrants with what I call ‘nest building’ and to help them find their way around here.

Xenophobia is widespread in many parts of Germany, especially in the East. Can you in good conscience recommend people from other countries to come here?

Dittrich: If I couldn’t do that, I would be in the wrong place as ZDH President. I don’t want to ignore the problems. In response to this, I would like to support those who are trying to find solutions.

Recently, right-wing extremists have called for so-called “craftsman demonstrations”. How open is your industry to migrants?

Dittrich: When it comes to integration, the skilled trades are better than other sectors, and when it comes to training, they are downright masters of integration. Almost half of all vocational training for refugees from the most common asylum-seeking countries since 2015 has taken place in skilled trades. I can’t erase the fact that there are also people who are on the wrong path in the trades. As a large social group, crafts are always a mirror of social trends. But the basic rule for us in the trade is that it doesn’t count where you come from, but where you want to go. The vast majority of handicraft businesses act according to this principle.

Is it necessary to simplify the issue of the German passport?

Dittrich: We have to offer something to the people who are supposed to come to us. If citizenship law can be an argument, I think a simplified passport issue is a viable option if it is offered to those immigrants who have integrated well and who can demonstrate their contribution to the community.

Is there a need for more flexibility in the recognition of professional qualifications?

Dittrich: As a craft, we have proposed including in the Skilled Immigration Act that work experience is given greater consideration. The federal government must be flexible here and should take this up. We must increasingly evaluate professional experience and skills and see how we can use them. Because it will probably be difficult for us to find a trained electronics technician for building system integration in India or Vietnam. But the people there have completed their training and often have many years of professional experience.

There is also potential for skilled workers in Germany. The craft is still dominated by men. How can the industry become more attractive for women?

Dittrich: Women often choose creative trades. Professions such as goldsmith, tailor, hairdresser, confectioner or optician rank high on the popularity scale. But individual technical professions, such as dental technicians or orthopedic shoemakers, are also popular with women. There is undoubtedly still room for improvement in the previously male-dominated trades, but the quotas are increasing. Progress is also being made in job descriptions such as roofer or carpenter. Last but not least, technical progress contributes to this because it makes physically demanding work easier or completely replaces it. Whereas the roof tiles used to have to be carried upwards, there are now lifting techniques for this. You no longer have to climb onto the roof to assess damage; drones do that today.

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A further adjusting screw would be a higher retirement age. The roofer is often cited as a counter-argument. You are a roofer yourself. Is a higher retirement age than 67 physically feasible?

Dittrich: It bothers me that the roofer always has to be used for the debate. In general, we definitely need more flexibility when it comes to retirement, and we need incentives for people to stay in work longer.

Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil plans that employees will be able to go on paid training in the future. They are to be released for up to one year and supported by the Federal Employment Agency. Do you approve?

Dittrich:Continuing education is necessary. And it is clear to all innovative companies that they have to offer further training. And they do that – also in the knowledge that they would otherwise not be an attractive employer. But again as a state wanting to regulate everything by law across the board for everyone, I think it’s the wrong way to go.

Why?

Dittrich: In times of a shortage of skilled workers, the government decreeing that many more people temporarily say goodbye to the work process is not expedient in my opinion.

The minister plans that the employer’s consent should be required. Is not that enough?

Dittrich: But then the boss needs pretty good reasons to say no. Then there’s trouble again. The decision on further training should remain in the hands of the companies.

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