ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the changes affecting the German construction sector. It discusses the industry context and the institutions representing worker and employer interests. In 2018, the total value of the output of the German construction industry stood at 350.48 billion, equivalent to 10.4 percent of Gross Domestic Product and 49.8 percent of gross fixed capital formation. Henceforth, non-German companies sending workers to work in the German construction industry were required to comply with the new minimum wage. In the analysis of these figures, it is clear that since the early 1990s the German construction industry has drawn in additional workers employed by firms located elsewhere: these are included in German official statistics but the presumption is that this has been on a large, if unknown, scale. Training in construction is organized in a staged process, introduced in 1974, that provides for 19 skill pathways to be managed via a uniform approach.
