Vocational education, as an effective “buffer” to solve employment problems, has contributed a lot to the continuous development of human resources, the offsetting of the shortage of labor market, and the stable employment of disadvantaged groups and the young people in Germany. From the perspective of historical evolution, German vocational education, adhering to the principle of “promoting employment,” has gone through four stages: preparing the underprivileged population for making a living, getting full employment for school apprentices, providing employment support and welfare guarantee for the unemployed, and providing services for the unemployed youth to get re-employment. From the perspective of current development, holding fast to the tradition of “promoting employment,” German vocational education follows the principle of matching supply with demand, and attaches importance to the relevance of vocational education with the labor market. It provides a developmental training model to facilitate sustainable employment. It provides targeted vocational guidance with diversified vocational education consulting services. Replacing “unemployment benefits” with “educational advancement,” it establishes a positive employment security system, so as to provide matching personnel for the labor market. At present, the goal of vocational education in China has changed from “employment-oriented” to “promoting employment.” If vocational education is to promote employment, it is necessary to promote employment with “guiding” vocational education and give play to the overall planning of the institutional framework. It is necessary to promote employment with “impartial” vocational education to provide good employment services for different groups. It is necessary to promote employment with “adaptable” vocational education and construct the basic framework of employment orientation.