In Germany, Workers Head Back to School
GIFHORN, Germany — When Emrullah Karaca began working at a factory in Gifhorn, where the auto parts supplier Continental builds components for hydraulic brakes, he was looking for a temporary job after finishing high school.
But after spending more than two decades building a career at the factory, Mr. Karaca, a 49-year-old father of three, learned that Continental planned to close the plant by 2027. Facing a daunting job hunt, he will head back to school to earn his trade certificate, courtesy of his employer.
It is a necessary step if he wants to find a job in Germany, where despite a desperate lack of skilled workers, degrees and certification still count more than on-the-job experience.
“I never needed it until now, because I was always here,” Mr. Karaca said.
The training program that Mr. Karaca and 80 co-workers will undergo is part of an initiative started by Continental aimed at helping employees acquire the skills they need for new jobs, either within Continental or at companies nearby.
In 2021, Continental joined 70 other companies — including Bayer, DHL, Infineon and Siemens — to form the Alliance for Opportunity, an initiative intended to help them hold on to the 2.7 million people in their collective work force.
Germany has fallen behind its peers in automating manufacturing, and as its industry moves to keep pace, the country is facing thousands of job cuts in its automotive and engineering sectors even as more than 700,000 positions across all industries remain unfilled.
“This is basically the conflicting priorities that we have right now: On the one hand, job cuts in combination with tough personnel adjustment processes, and on the other hand, you have a labor shortage,” said Jutta Rump, a director of the Institute for Employment and Employability in Ludwigshafen.
In Gifhorn, where Continental produces brake lines and valve blocks, the company was facing decreasing demand and rising energy costs, and it became clear that the factory would soon not be viable.
That left Mr. Karaca — and about 800 other employees — facing an uncertain future. “We all thought we would be here until retirement,” he said.
German companies have a tradition of social responsibility, and leaders at Continental were keenly aware of the role the factory played in the community of 41,000, where it was the third-largest employer.
“There were two possible options: Either you do it the classic way — and classic means a lot of loud strikes, trade union politics and the politicians getting involved,” said Ariane Reinhart, a member of Continental’s executive board who helped found Continental’s training center in 2019. “Or you find a new way to do things.”
Germany prides itself on its vocational training, offered through a dual-track system that combines school coursework
Layoffs, but training for a labor shortage elsewhere.
with hands-on work experience. Around 330 occupations require a trade certification, and anyone without one is largely out of luck — regardless of the skills that he or she may have acquired on the job.
Training courses like those offered by Continental and other alliance members have found support from Berlin and regional governments. Last year, the government earmarked more than 3 billion euros, or $3.23 billion, for companies to offer training and certification courses for employees facing a job loss.
Mr. Karaca, who is supporting one child in college and two others in high school, said that despite the disappointment that his time at the company would come to an end, he was grateful for the opportunity to find a new job.
“I have to be able to show what I can do,” he said.