The costs and benefits of training for companies

The number of the training places offered by companies in Germany has clearly fallen behind demand in the past two years. This has led in recent months to demands for a training levy and to corresponding draft legislation by the SPD delegation in the Bundestag. Such demands are politically attractive. but it is often overlooked that there are reasons for offering fewer training places. In this article the possible underlying causes for the shortage of training places are analysed. These presumably lie in the concrete worsening of the cost-benefit relationship of training facilities for the companies and in the generally poor prospects for the economy. Both can only be changed by an improvement in the general conditions for a “knowledge society”; a training levy would only worsen the situation.