Logistics Increases the Number of Training Opportunities

While in some areas the number of training positions offered is significantly declining, logistics is increasingly providing training opportunities for young people. Vocational training as well as studies offer diverse chances. The industry offers 200 training professions and 110 degree programs.

(Bremen) According to the current report from the Federal Employment Agency on the situation in the training market, the professional field of Transport & Logistics (excluding vehicle operation) recorded an increase in company training positions of 6.6 percent in the training year 2020/2021 compared to the previous year. While the number of company training positions in areas such as hairdressing, tourism, hotels, and restaurants decreased by more than 20 percent in some cases, logistics presents itself as a promising alternative for young people and counters the pandemic-related trend of declining training opportunities. The overall offer in the training market has decreased by 3 percent compared to the previous year.

Overall, the logistics sector – with around 3.2 million employees and a total turnover of approximately 268 billion euros, the third largest economic sector in Germany – offers around 200 training professions and 110 degree programs. According to Christian Kille, Professor of Trade Logistics at the University of Würzburg, logistics is becoming increasingly attractive for university students: “Logistics is particularly interesting for business administration students in the context of sustainability as a focus. They can directly influence the actions of companies and make their companies significantly more sustainable. In other areas of business administration, this is usually only possible indirectly. For this reason, we see more interest – especially among female students.”

Logistics is booming, digital, and international

Frauke Heistermann, spokesperson for the initiative “Die Wirtschaftsmacher”, which particularly advocates for young people to perceive logistics as an attractive work and career environment, emphasizes: “Logistics, with its important supply function for the economy and society, offers many attractive training and career opportunities for young people. Logistics is booming, it is increasingly digital, it is international, and thus offers more than just an alternative to the sectors weakened by the Corona pandemic.”

The logistics sector is countering this trend with a still high or even increased number of training positions: In the reporting year 2020/2021, over 19,700 training positions in the areas of warehousing, mail, delivery, and goods handling, as well as nearly 5,000 for merchants in transport and logistics, were reported. This corresponds to an increase of 2.3 percent in these two areas compared to the previous year (Statistics of the Federal Employment Agency, The Training Market (Monthly Figures), Germany, June 2021)

Logistics Continues to Plan New Hires

This positive trend is confirmed by the results of an online survey by the initiative “Die Wirtschaftsmacher” from June 2021. Here, about three-quarters of the representatives of logistics stated that their companies planned new hires in the coming quarters. About 85 percent indicated that they feared a further escalation of the skilled labor shortage. Accordingly, the development of training positions in logistics is now also showing an upward trend.

Photo: © Die Wirtschaftsmacher / Image Caption: Frauke Heistermann, spokesperson for the initiative Die Wirtschaftsmacher, and Prof. Dr. Christian Kille, University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt FHWS.