Surge in number of construction apprentices
Of 3,000 people expected to be registered in apprenticeships this year, 700 will be in the most traditional crafts associated with building. New apprentice carpenters, for example, are forecasted to rise from 91, in 2012, to 240 this year.
Brick and stonelaying apprentice numbers reached 15 in the first five months of this year, compared to just three for all of 2013, and may rise to 30 by the end of the year.
The figures, from the Department of Education’s labour-market training-policy unit, reflect a return to the apprenticeship model as an entry route to work for school-leavers.
The rise, to an expected 2,956 new apprentices this year, comes from a low base of just 1,431, in 2012, with the figure rising to 2,000 a year later.
There were 2,700 new apprentices in 2014, including 16 entering the stonemasonry trade, the first to do so in at least three years.
However, non-construction-based crafts are also gaining in popularity, with 200 apprentices expected to be registered for metal-fabrication apprenticeships in 2015, almost double the 2012 figure.
Apprentice electricians rose from 400, in 2012, to 845 last year, with a further increase expected in 2015; and electrical-instrumentation numbers look set to continue their rise, from just 25, in 2012, to 100, this year.
Across all 27 trades in which apprentices are currently trained in conjunction with employers, one-in-three come under the construction category. They grew in new registrations from 222, in 2012, to 380, in 2013, 582 last year and an expected 687 in 2015.
The corresponding figures for other trade categories were:
Motor mechanics is the second most popular apprenticeship, with numbers rising slowly in recent years, also, and expected to reach 350 by the end of 2015, and half that number were already registered by the end of May. 330 apprentice plumbers are forecast, which would be three times the figure in 2012.
The rising interest was flagged at the recent launch of plans to introduce 25 new apprenticeships, including entry routes to work as chefs, travel agents, lorry drivers, software developers, or to work in the medical devices, accountancy or insurance sectors.
