BERLIN, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The number of untrained young people in Germany reached a record high of 2.12 million in 2018, according to the Vocational Training Report of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research presented on Wednesday.

In the 2017/2018 training year, 57,700 vocational training places in Germany remained unfilled while at the same time, 24,500 young people were unable to find a training place.

German Education Minister Anja Karliczek said that the report showed "how difficult it is for many companies to fill their vacancies and find suitable applicants".

The report noted that "bringing together the supply and demand of training places" remained a "major challenge" in Germany.

The German Federation of Trade Unions (DGB) criticized this division, noting that "the training market is breaking down into parallel worlds" of companies with open places and young people on the search for vocational training offers.

The growing number of unqualified young people aged 20 to 34 represented "the high-risk group" on the German labor market who "no longer feel visible or relevant to the government," said DGB deputy chairwoman Elke Hannack.

Nonetheless, the number of new training contracts in Germany rose last year, with 8,100 more training contracts concluded than 2017.

Education Minister Karliczek said that the report "shows how popular training is" in Germany, with 531,400 young people starting vocational training programs last year.

"Vocational training offers young people a high-quality educational path that is in no way inferior to a course of study," emphasized Karliczek.