You still can get a job, even if you start something new at the age of 35 or 40. I like the fact that that is accepted here. Then if you've got a broader background, it's okay to switch, but first you've got to have a job. When you've already got a job, then it is definitely desirable for you to be more broadly oriented, and not to have such a narrow career picture, but all in all the way your career ladder is structured is still very linear. I think it also depends on the profession.
Academics tend to specialize very specifically or to become very strong generalists.
Careers which are combined with an apprenticeship, I would say, still have a very clearly defined professional description, but it is also the case that for example in teaching careers they require the Abitur more often, the higher the unemployment rate becomes. I know that Germany has a tremendous unemployment rate, and that a lot of young academics who didn't get jobs in the Federal Republic, teachers for example, now go over there, because there are jobs in the field of education. The unemployment in the GDR is a different kind of unemployment, because the people in the former GDR who were history teachers, for example, who had jobs in the area of education, they all have not only to get accustomed to the new form of government, but also create a bit of trust and understanding. For example, history teachers. I think a lot of East German teachers have been fired.