Berlin training place levy decided: While startups warn, politicians talk about “solidarity”. What’s really behind it.
Criticism from startups meets self-praise from politicians: the so-called training place levy was passed by the Berlin House of Representatives last week. Specifically, it means: Anyone who doesn’t train has to pay. And that starts with just ten employees in the company. Founders criticized the new decision, as we reported.
But what do those responsible in Berlin politics say about it – and their competition from Bavaria? We asked.
What the levy should do – and how it works
The Berlin Senate Administration explains the reason for the decision as follows: “The training place levy is not the goal, but the means that we use to create additional training places.” The law aims to create significantly more places in the Berlin training market. Supply and demand would not match here. If the measure is successful, the law would automatically end after three years.
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All Berlin employers with at least ten employees subject to social insurance contributions and who have a training rate of less than 4.6 percent are subject to the tax. So also startups that are growing. Anyone who reaches the quota or stays small pays nothing.
Founders would count as full employees in the calculation, part-time employees would only count as a proportion. This means that if you work ten hours per week you count as a quarter of the workforce, if you work twenty hours you count as half the work, and if you work thirty hours you count as three quarters.
The amount of the tax is determined individually for each industry by a regulation: It basically depends on the financial requirements – which should be at least 75 million euros annually – and the wage bill of the payers. An advisory board with economic and social partners would regularly consult and regulate hardship cases.
SPD Senator Kiziltepe calls the levy “in solidarity”
Cansel Kiziltepe, Berlin Senator for Labor, pushed forward the decision. She is happy that Berlin is receiving the levy, as she says. “We have firmly decided to increase training ratios significantly and in the long term.” In doing so, she puts young Berliners at the center: “With the levy, we are putting young people at the center of our political work. We have to look after them more intensively.”
Their idea: Create incentives for training, protect small companies better, while large ones would have to do more. “We create a financial incentive for vocational training and we strengthen exemplary companies. We protect small companies, while larger companies have to bear more responsibility. In the end, everyone benefits from well-trained specialists.”
“No burden for startups”: CDU MP Stettner on the costs and impact of the levy
CDU parliamentary group leader Dirk Stettner puts the decision into perspective. He sees costs, but also opportunities. “A company with 20 full-time employees that does not provide training should not contribute more than 1,000 euros per year to support training in other companies.” In return, trainers would receive full reimbursement of costs. “A company of the same size that creates and fills a new training position will receive 100 percent of the cost of the training salary as support – depending on the industry and tariff, around 15,000 euros per year.”
However, there does not seem to be complete agreement on the amount of the levy. Because the Berlin Senate Department for Labor tells Gründerszene, “important coordinates, data and figures that we need to calculate the levy will be determined in the coming weeks and months.”
Nevertheless, Stettner gives the all-clear for startups. “The training support fund does not initially represent a burden for many startups in Berlin.” Anyone who stays under ten employees pays nothing, says Stettner. Trainers would also benefit: “Companies that provide training or create additional training positions even benefit from funding.”
And Berlin founders? They criticize the levy as a “wrong signal.” She meets startups that often cannot hire trainees. The Berlin location will be further weakened because the regulation will lead to more bureaucracy and ultimately costs.
For Stettner, however, the training place levy is not a disadvantage for Berlin as a location. He sees the fund more as an investment in the future. “I would say to a Berlin startup founder who is considering growing elsewhere because of this regulation: Berlin is consciously investing in the skilled workers of tomorrow.”
Bavaria’s politicians consider duty to make little sense
Bavaria is not planning anything comparable, the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Labor told Gründerszene. The Ministry of Labor highlights its surplus of space: “In September 2025, there were 94,548 vocational training positions available to the 63,297 registered applicants in Bavaria. So there are 1.5 positions for every applicant in Bavaria.”
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According to the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, the situation is different in the German capital: “In Berlin, in contrast to Bavaria, there are more applicants than training places. Therefore, other measures may also make sense there.” However, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, a training place levy with a mandatory trainee quota is not considered the right approach. “A levy usually causes more bureaucracy and does not sufficiently take the companies’ options into account.”
Bavaria therefore strengthens the training mood differently. Instead of a levy, they rely on partnerships with business and the employment agency. Both an internet platform and orientation fairs would be used for mediation. This would work great – no obligation required.
