Place of residence influences access to apprenticeships
Zollikofen, 29.01.2026 — Access to apprenticeship places in Switzerland differs significantly depending on where young people live. This is shown by a new study conducted by the Swiss Federal University for Vocational Education and Training SFUVET. It sheds light on the still little-known structure of regional apprenticeship markets. Around 95 per cent of young people have access to more than 100 of the roughly 250 apprenticeship pathways in Switzerland when searching for a training place.
Young people living in Olten and seeking an apprenticeship can choose from the widest range of options: a total of 242 municipalities with 12,704 training companies and 49,484 apprenticeship places across 227 occupations are within reach. The situation in Brusio in the canton of Graubünden, by contrast, is markedly different. There, the search area for young people comprises just 2 municipalities with 24 training companies and 38 apprenticeship places across 18 occupations.
In the latest Trend in Focus study by Dr Andreas Kuhn and Prof. Dr Jürg Schweri from the Swiss Observatory for Vocational Education and Training at SFUVET, the search area for young people is defined as all municipalities that can be reached from their home by public transport within one hour. An earlier study by the same authors on the mobility patterns of apprentices showed that 85 per cent of young apprentices spend no more than 60 minutes commuting from home to their training company.
Wide range of options for most young people
- A typical search area includes an average of 35 municipalities
- Each search area offers around 1,900 training companies with approximately 6,600 apprenticeship places
- An average of 146 apprenticeship pathways are available per search area, with the range varying from 2 to 227 different occupations
- Around 95 per cent of young people have access to more than 100 occupations within their search area
- Only around 1 per cent of young people have access to fewer than 50 occupations within their search area
Unequal starting opportunities for young people
- Apprenticeship and occupational choices are partly influenced directly by place of residence
- Young people’s preferences are shaped by the regional availability of apprenticeship places
- A young person’s place of residence affects their chances of pursuing a specific training programme. While commercial apprenticeships are accessible to almost all young people, this is not the case for occupations such as cableway mechatronics technician or winemaker
The study is based on vocational education and training data from the Federal Statistical Office, covering all active dual apprenticeship contracts in vocational education and training for the 2021/22 training year.
Read the new Trend in Focus report: Regional differences in access to dual apprenticeship places