SPD on the economy

The SPD wants to strengthen the state as an industrial location and make its industry climate-neutral rather than shifting production abroad. A transformation council of state government, business and unions would guide the change. A climate investment company would let the state co-invest directly.

The SPD wants to keep industry in the state. Factories should stop harming the climate. Government, companies and unions should plan this together. The state should also be able to put its own money into climate projects.

The transformation council follows the model of Rhineland-Palatinate. Joint transformation teams would support individual companies and cross-company solutions. The state wants to fund pilot and research projects on decarbonization and sector coupling in all regions. Advice on funding, such as EU Green Deal programs, would be expanded and made more professional. The stated goal is for workers, companies and the public to benefit from the change.

The SPD wants a state program to attract apprentices to the skilled trades and to invest in their training facilities. In the platform's view, there are too few tradespeople for the energy retrofit of buildings. An integration drive is also meant to bring more skilled workers to the state.

Many homes need to be rebuilt to protect the climate. There are too few tradespeople for that. The SPD wants to get more young people into trade apprenticeships. People from other countries should also work in the trades.

The SPD wants to promote trade careers more, especially among women and people with a migration background. The chambers of trade would reach out in schools and at training fairs, and career changes into the trades would become easier. Networks would support training and career paths. University places in construction-related fields would keep growing. The party will check whether the north of the state has enough places for civil engineering and architecture.

The SPD wants to start a new state development strategy right after taking office and design a mission-oriented economic policy with all stakeholders. The guiding idea is a social and ecological market economy in which the state invests alongside companies.

The SPD wants a new plan for the state's economy. The state and companies should invest together. The economy should be social and green. Permits should come faster. Industry should also get stronger.

The economy is to become more crisis-proof, and planning and approval times are to be cut. Beyond existing clusters, the strategy is to identify new fields for the future; ideas from the Economy for the Common Good are to feed into decisions. The platform sees the circular economy as a growth field for investment, and the SPD will examine whether it can be taken into account in public tenders. The party also wants to boost industry's competitiveness, develop cluster structures and attract new industries.

The SPD wants to connect small and mid-sized companies more closely with universities. This is meant to help them recruit young talent and keep up with digitalization and technological change, since many have no research department of their own.

Many small companies have no research of their own. The SPD wants to bring them together with universities. This also helps companies find young skilled workers. Universities of applied sciences should get more resources for this.

Cooperation during studies, such as internships and theses, is to be supported so that young talent stays in the state. Plans include knowledge management, exchange platforms and early matchmaking of contacts. Where universities of applied sciences work with companies, this should be rewarded in their equipment and teaching loads. The SPD also wants to strengthen research on social, ecological and digital transformation and invest in linking universities beyond the state's borders.

The SPD wants to encourage more people to start businesses, from schools and universities to the skilled trades. Plans include scholarships, advice, venture capital and targeted support for women founders.

The SPD wants more people to start a company. The topic should already come up in school. Students should get scholarships for it. Women should get special support. Researchers should get help with patents.

Entrepreneurship teaching is to be expanded in schools, and vocational schools are also to promote self-employment. At universities, startup advising is to be funded permanently, room for experimenting created and an interdisciplinary master's program set up with companies and the state. The SPD wants to review existing early-stage funding tools and monitor them continuously. A fund at the patent marketing agency is to support researchers with patents. Women are to get tailored outreach and networks; the party will also examine whether international schools are needed for foreign professionals.

The SPD wants to work more closely with Hamburg, especially on research, marketing the region, energy and schools. The stated reason is that people's daily lives do not stop at the state border.

The SPD wants to work more with Hamburg. Both states should promote the region together. Researchers and companies should work together more closely. There should also be more joint work on schools and energy.

The plan includes a strategy to link science and business more closely in the Hamburg metropolitan region. Joint marketing is meant to build a shared identity and above all help tourism, since both states have so far acted separately there. On climate and energy, the platform points to the NEW 4.0 project as a model for further projects. The 2016 agreement on cross-border school attendance is to be developed further and extended to vocational schools.

The SPD wants to keep the state's shipyards and their suppliers and to give more funding to alternative ship propulsion. Government support should go only to companies that respect worker codetermination and collective agreements.

The SPD wants to keep the shipyards in the state. Shipyards build ships. The SPD wants to fund new, clean engines for ships. Only companies with union wage deals and worker say should get state money.

The platform calls the shipyards important employers and part of the state's identity. University research is to be tied more closely to industry. The SPD stands by naval shipbuilding and wants more federal contracts to come to the state. State and federal contract awards should take into account collective agreements, codetermination and the limits on exporting war material to crisis regions. Ship recycling is also named as a possible source of local value.

The SPD wants to digitize the state's ports and make them climate-neutral. It plans a sustainability strategy with port operators and wants to secure maritime training and degree programs.

The SPD wants to modernize the state's ports. The ports should work digitally. They should no longer harm the climate. Ships in port should use power from land. Training for sea-related jobs should stay.

Digital networking is meant to make maritime transport chains more efficient, flexible and safe. The sustainability strategy is to include measurable indicators and shore power while ships are docked. The new TransMarTech center is meant to help keep the whole maritime value chain in the state and bring companies closer together. Maritime vocational training, continuing education and degree programs at technical colleges and universities are to be kept.

The SPD wants to tackle the shortage of skilled workers in hotels, restaurants and leisure businesses. Good pay, childcare and a funding program for staff housing in tourist towns are meant to help.

Hotels and restaurants cannot find enough staff. The SPD wants to change that. Workers should get good pay. There should be money for staff homes in vacation towns. Good childcare should help too.

The platform notes that many workers have moved to other industries and wants to train skilled staff, keep them or bring them back. It names free and flexible childcare and good wages as key factors and points to the 12-euro minimum wage. Low wages and mini-jobs should not be a business model, and women in the industry in particular should have social security coverage. The housing program follows the example of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and applies to municipalities with heavy tourism.

The SPD wants vacations in Schleswig-Holstein to happen all year and focuses on quality and protecting nature. It plans more inland and bicycle tourism, digital services, accessibility and steering of visitor flows.

The SPD wants to promote vacations in the state all year. Tourism should protect nature. Places away from the coast should get more guests. There should be better services for cycling and fewer barriers for everyone. Digital tools should spread visitors out better.

The plan includes expanding city, wellness and health tourism, modernizing infrastructure and a funding program for country inns. Bicycle tourism is to get digital route planning and better signs, vacation spots should be easier to reach by bus and train, and a statewide concept is to address traffic in heavily visited places. Language and physical barriers are to be removed along the whole service chain. Nonprofit youth recreation centers should be able to offer low-cost stays. The state tourism agency TASH is to be reviewed and work more closely with the Danish tourism organization.