Writing and numeracy gaps: One in five companies plans to take on fewer apprentices

Swiss companies say weaknesses in basic skills are becoming increasingly visible in everyday workplace training. A joint survey by Economiesuisse, the Swiss Trade Association and the Swiss Employers’ Association of more than 2,900 training managers found that many young people struggle to understand longer texts, write clearly or judge whether a calculated result makes sense.

Writing and mathematics received the weakest assessments. Fifty-nine percent of respondents rated apprentices’ writing skills as inadequate, while more than two-thirds identified shortcomings in spelling and grammar. Companies also reported difficulties with quantities and units in mathematics.

The pattern appeared broadly similar across German-speaking Switzerland, French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino. Reading was rated comparatively better, with slightly more than half of respondents describing apprentices’ skills as good or fairly good. Even there, however, employers said young people often struggled to understand longer texts or extract the most important information.

Training managers described the decline as a long-term downward trend rather than a temporary problem. About half of the companies said they had observed it for around five years, and another quarter for roughly a decade. Three out of four businesses now offer additional internal or external measures to close the gaps.

The decline is also affecting apprenticeship recruitment. One in five companies said it had already reduced the number of apprentices it recruits, or intended to do so, because of falling basic skills. Some businesses are tightening their selection criteria, while others leave apprenticeship positions vacant when they cannot find suitable applicants.