Hesse: The number of Hessian baker trainees has fallen significantly

Wiesbaden (dpa/lhe) - The number of Hessian baker apprentices fell by almost a third between 2016 and 2021.

Hesse: The number of Hessian baker trainees has fallen significantly

Wiesbaden (dpa/lhe) - The number of Hessian baker apprentices fell by almost a third between 2016 and 2021. This emerges from a response from the Ministry of Economics to a parliamentary question from the SPD parliamentary group in Wiesbaden. According to this, in 2016, 415 young people in Hesse were still learning the bakery trade, in 2021 there were still 283. In the same period, however, the number of butcher trainees fell only slightly from 257 (2016) to 246 (2021).

"A decline in businesses (in the food trade) that can also be observed in Hesse is based on various - partly individual, partly structural - causes," explained the ministry. This also includes the lack of trainees, which is due to a continuing trend towards high school and university degrees.

In addition, bakers, for example, are increasingly in competition with supermarkets, bakeries and gas stations. This does not necessarily go hand in hand with a drop in sales, since many bakers could compensate for lost business by selling coffee or snacks. However, the margins on these products are lower, the ministry said.

Data from the State Statistical Office shows that in the Offenbach district, for example, the number of baker apprentices fell from 30 to 16 between 2016 and 2021. In the Darmstadt-Dieburg district, the number fell from 17 to 7 in the same period, in the Main-Kinzig district from 27 to 16. However, there are also opposing developments: In the Waldeck-Frankenberg district, there were 13 more trainee bakers in 2021 and bakers than in 2016, when 9 people learned the craft.