The Situation of High-quality Well-educated Intellectuals in Germany

The present article drafts the changes that have taken place in German labour-force structure and labour market in the recent decades. Notwithstanding former trends, the number of university graduates started to decrease in the last five years. As reasons for this the author marks three main factors: demographic trends, decreasing interest in university carriers and the growing ratio of drop-outs. Considering vocational groups, he points out that indirect services and manufacturing cum maintenance services are on the rise, while regarding qualification groups he puts emphasis on the spreading of dual vocational education. In connection with this, the concept of “high-quality well-educated intellectuals” is revised, broadening the category to include also higher educational forms else than university and college education. The article also includes a comparison with an earlier prediction, concluding that automation had greater effects on the structure of labour than formerly expected.