The changing apprenticeship market in Switzerland

Demographic change, technological trends and shifts in young people’s educational and career aspirations are reshaping the Swiss apprenticeship market. In recent years, it has become increasingly challenging for both young people seeking apprenticeships and companies looking to fill apprenticeship positions to find suitable matches. This is highlighted in the new trend report, ‘A changing apprenticeship market’, which a research team led by Prof. Dr. Lukas Graf, Head of the Swiss Observatory for Vocational Education and Training OBS SFUVET, presented and discussed with VET representatives at the SFUVET-OBS Conference in Bern today. “The interplay between supply and demand in the apprenticeship market is becoming increasingly complex,” said Lukas Graf. This makes closer strategic and operational coordination between the Confederation, cantons and professional organisations, as VET partners, increasingly important.

Young people’s career aspirations are changing

• Demand for apprenticeship positions fluctuates in line with the number of school leavers, which fell from around 90,000 in the 2016/17 training year to approximately 86,000 in 2022/23. The figure is now rising again, with the Federal Statistical Office forecasting a further increase by 2035.
• The proportion of learners undertaking dual-track or school-based VET programmes fell from 71% in 2012 to 66% in 2024. Academically stronger young people and Swiss nationals, in particular, were slightly more likely to opt for general education pathways, such as specialised secondary schools or academic baccalaureate schools.
• Despite the impact of artificial intelligence, commercial and ICT occupations remain among the most popular apprenticeship choices.
• On the apprenticeship platform yousty.ch, occupations such as healthcare assistant, retail professional and gardener accounted for a markedly smaller share of all searches in 2025 than in 2018. By contrast, the proportion of searches for occupations such as laboratory technician, automation technician and logistics professional increased.
• In some occupations, there is a clear mismatch between supply and demand. In 2025, for example, apprenticeships for electricians, building and grounds custodians and chefs accounted for a higher share of advertised positions on yousty.ch than of searches. The opposite was true for commercial employees, information technologists and medical secretaries and assistants, where demand for apprenticeship positions exceeded supply.

Around a quarter of training companies have a limited pool of applicants

• The number of training companies fell from 63,000 in the 2016/17 training year to 59,000 in 2022/23. However, the number of apprenticeship positions remained largely stable at around 80,000, with fewer companies offering more positions.
• According to the companies themselves, they were able to fill a smaller proportion of their apprenticeship positions, with the figure falling from 96% to 92% across Switzerland.
• Recruitment difficulties have intensified, particularly in occupations and sectors such as construction and industry, where companies have long struggled to fill their apprenticeship positions.
• Around a quarter of the training companies surveyed reported receiving too few suitable applications.
• Companies attach particular importance to young people’s social and personal skills when recruiting apprentices.
• The main reason companies provide apprenticeships is to secure their own long-term supply of skilled workers.

VET partners take a more active role in steering the apprenticeship market

• The challenges facing the apprenticeship market are also prompting the Confederation and cantons to play a more active coordinating role. They are setting priorities, pooling measures and bringing stakeholders together, with individual cantons focusing on different areas according to their circumstances.
• Professional organisations are also taking a more active stance and establishing their own priorities.
• This growing need for coordination means that the respective operational responsibilities of the various partners must be more clearly defined, particularly where their activities overlap.
• These efforts are most effective when cantons and sectors coordinate their activities more closely, particularly in jointly monitoring the apprenticeship market, supporting companies and fostering regional cooperation.

According to the researchers, the Swiss apprenticeship market is still functioning well overall; however, they expect that economic uncertainty will make it increasingly difficult for young people to secure apprenticeship positions in the coming years.

Trend reports from the Swiss Observatory for Vocational Education and Training OBS SFUVET

With the publication of ‘A changing apprenticeship market’, researchers at OBS SFUVET have now produced their seventh trend report. The report draws on a range of data sources, including the observatory’s own surveys of various VET stakeholders, data on training companies from SFUVET’s fifth cost-benefit survey of initial vocational education and training, and data from the Federal Statistical Office and the apprenticeship platform yousty.ch.

Enterprize awards for innovative VET projects

At the conference in Bern, the SVC Foundation for Entrepreneurship, the Swiss Network for Education and Vocational Education and Training in International Cooperation (RECI-FoBBIZ) and SFUVET once again honoured three outstanding VET projects with Enterprize awards. The ceremony was attended by Rémy Hübschi, Deputy Director of the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI). First place, worth CHF 10,000, went to Werkraum Holz & Energie Wattwil, a centre for learning and exchange that brings together vocational education and training, craftsmanship and innovation. Second place, worth CHF 5,000, was awarded to the association Lehrberufe live! for its career choice platform of the same name. The CHF 5,000 Enterprize International award went to Solar Learning for Women, a project that enables women in Kenya to access skilled employment in the solar energy sector.

Trend report from the Swiss Observatory for Vocational Education and Training OBS SFUVET: A changing apprenticeship market

SFUVET-OBS Conference: SFUVET-OBS Conference 2026: A changing apprenticeship market | Swiss Federal University for Vocational Education and Training (SFUVET)

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