The buzzword »Generation internship» makes the headlines. The actual situation of trainees was recently examined in the course of a survey by the Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB). The finding: In 2.3% of all cases companies staff vacancies with former trainees. Thus, each year about 150.000 trainees are taken over by German companies into jobs subject to social insurance contribution.
Most often it is small companies which assume former trainees. 3.6% of all hirings in small companies come about this way. For medium-sized entities with 50 to 500 employees this percentage amounts to 1.5% whereas in major enterprises with more than 500 staff 0.9% of all hired people are former employees of that company.
According to the IAB study, in the middle of 2006 there were about 600.000 trainees in Germany. Given that traineeships frequently just last a few weeks or months, the actual number of traineeships is much higher. So far no reliable figures are available on how many of them are completed each year. Therefore it is not possible to number the probability of being assumed after an internship.
Contrary to the public opinion trainees with an university degree or striving for it are the minory. They account for only 150.000 to 200.000 of the 600.000 trainees. Three quarter of all jobs to be staffed with former trainees require GCSE. Only 15% require an university degree.
Almost 50 percent of trainees taken over are between 30 and 40 years of age, 40% are younger and just 15% older than this age bracket.
A summary of the study is available for free-of-charge download. 