National Council wants to ease the burden on training companies – for example with tax deductions
Published: Thursday, Jun 13th 2024, 13:20
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In the fight against the growing shortage of skilled workers, the National Council wants to reward companies that train apprentices. The Federal Council should take "targeted support measures" in their favor, such as granting tax deductions.
Sandra Sollberger's motion also calls for regulatory and administrative simplifications, as well as further development of the concept of training company networks. The National Council approved the motion on Thursday by 127 votes to 63 with 5 abstentions. The motion will now be submitted to the Council of States.
The SVP National Councillor from the canton of Basel-Land argued that everything in Switzerland was moving towards academization. "The public purse spends a lot more on a high school student than on an apprentice of the same age." Apprenticeship companies and professional associations are being asked to pay for their training. At the same time, the demands on training companies are increasing.
The Federal Council opposed the motion. Studies have shown that financial incentives have a modest effect on the number of apprenticeships. In addition, there is a risk that companies that are persuaded to train apprentices could use them as cheap labor.
Apart from this, a cost-benefit survey conducted by the Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training in 2019 showed that training apprentices is worthwhile for companies.
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