Accompanying research Transformation through craftsmanship

Craftsmanship is a central pillar of the German economy. In the year 2021, there were approximately 568,000 craft enterprises in Germany, employing around 5.4 million people. Despite, or perhaps because of the positive economic development in recent years, the craft sector faces various challenges looking into the future. Notably, these include demographic change and the associated shortage of skilled workers and apprentices, as well as the advancing digitalization of the workplace and professional world. Against this backdrop, the pilot project "Transformation through Craftsmanship" was initiated, conducted cooperatively under the patronage of the Central Association of the German Crafts (ZDH) and the Federal Employment Agency (BA) in the region of the Regional Directorate Lower Saxony-Bremen (RD-NSB). The overarching goal of the pilot project is to explore new ways to recruit skilled workers and increase the attractiveness of the craft sector as an employer. The implementation of the pilot project is carried out in three sub-projects, each dedicated to different aspects of transformation and thus addressing various target groups. The sub-projects are located at different sites in Lower Saxony and are conducted equally by the regional chambers of crafts and the local employment agencies there.

The research project investigates the central question of whether the pilot project and its three sub-projects succeed in designing and implementing new approaches locally/regionally that can contribute to alleviating the tense situation in the area of skilled worker recruitment in the craft sector and initiating a desired improvement in the sector's image. To answer this guiding research question, the research project is based on a study design that combines methods of qualitative and quantitative analyses in an implementation and impact analysis, following a triangulation model.