Concern at low level of construction apprentices

Concern at low level of new construction apprentices

Concern has been expressed at the low numbers of people registering for construction apprenticeships in the past few years. 2014 has been a particularly bad year with no new apprentices at all in some sectors and fewer than 10 in others. 

This has been particularly acute in the ‘Wet Trade’ apprenticeships as you can see in the following table which details the declining level of apprentices over the last 10 years:

Apprenticeship Registrations – Wet Trades:

These figures are in contrast to the figures for some of the other construction apprenticeships.  The comparison year to year on these categories shows a strong increase in the number of people taking up carpentry, plumbing, electrical and metal fabrication apprenticeships:

In general an apprenticeship takes four years to complete with a mixture of lectures and fully supervised on the job training.  If there are no registrants in particular trades in 2014 that means there will be no fully skilled graduates coming online in 2018. 

 Tom Parlon, Director General of the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) said, “There is great concern throughout the construction industry about the number of new entrants in the apprenticeship system.  As the sector grows we will need new employees entering the industry.  We will need more brick layers as the level of housing being built increases to meet the demand in the housing market.  We will also need more plasterers, painters, tilers and other specialist apprentices such as electrical, plumbing and metalworkers.  There will be a demand for skilled workers and that is what the apprenticeship system is meant to provide. 

“Some of the figures for the construction apprentices are deeply worrying.  We need to be encouraging more young people into these apprenticeships as their talents will be required.  The Government have stated that they want to see the construction sector to double in size over the coming years.  That will mean a lot more activity in the industry and a lot more jobs. 

“While there are still large numbers of construction workers on the live register and these will fill the immediate shortage, many skilled workers have emigrated.  There is no guarantee that these workers will return.  It is therefore imperative that we continue to train highly skilled competent workers.  These will in turn to fill the vacancies opening in the industry helping to drive both the industry and economy forward.

“The CIF is working with SOLAS and the unions to help develop an improved apprenticeship system.  We can’t allow this trend to continue.  Otherwise we risk having insufficient construction skills in this country at a time when the industry will need them,” Mr. Parlon concluded.

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