Skilled worker of tomorrow

Painting apprentice takes the top spot on the podium

Provincial Councillor Schneemann congratulated Marth on his success.(Bild: zVg)

Lena Marth impressed at the state apprentice competition. The state supports the budding specialists

Lena Marth from Bernstein left her colleagues in the dust at the state apprentice competition for young painters. The young woman was able to secure victory. Second place went to Marcel Wüntscher from the Szerencsits training company in Güssing and third place to Stefan Nikolic, who is being trained by Kara Hüseyin in Parndorf.

Not only her training company Malerei creativ Ringbauer in Markt Allhau congratulated the young painter on her great success, but also Leonhard Schneemann, State Councillor for Economic Affairs: "Our apprentices are the skilled workers of tomorrow. They are the backbone of the local economy. That's why we support young people financially during their apprenticeship, as this indirectly helps apprenticeship seekers to enter the primary labor market." Last year, 2.2 million euros in funding was paid out, this year alone it is already more than one million euros. "With this support, apprentices from socially disadvantaged households receive monthly grants towards their apprenticeship income. This supports them in maintaining their livelihood and indirectly in their training to become important, qualified specialists of the future," explains Schneemann.

The number of junior staff has risen slightly in recent years. Above all, however, there are more and more apprenticeship seekers. At the end of April, 670 young people under the age of 24 were looking for an apprenticeship. Support is also available here in the form of inter-company apprenticeship training. 567 young people took advantage of this last year.