With its one million mainly small and medium-sized companies and 5.5 million employees, Skilled Crafts are at the heart of the Germans economy.
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Membership of a skilled craft in Germany is not regulated via the company size or turnover. Instead, German legislation lays down in the the Trade and Crafts Code (the ‘Handwerksordnung’), which trades belong to the sector.
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Germany has a so-called “dual” apprenticeship system, with apprentices learning both in the company they work for and at a VET.
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Being responsible for the whole of the German skilled crafts sector, the skilled crafts organisation is divided into two pillars: the chambers of skilled crafts and the national confederations of skilled crafts.
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DHKT and UDH are confederated in the ZDH (German Confederation of Skilled Crafts). ZDH has its headquarters in Berlin.
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The ZDH is committed to the social market economy and to an SME policysupporting the competition on a high level.
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Skilled crafts enterprises identify and use their export opportunities. Around 50.000 companies sell their products and services abroad.
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The ZDH's European Policy Department with the Representatives for Regional Skilled Craft Organizations and sectoral policy in Brussels.
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The ZDH is active in a wide range of topics. On our english page we present a selection.
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