Apprenticeships in construction on the rise

The governments recently published data on apprenticeships in the construction industry shows that they are on the rise for the first time in 6 years, with approximately 26,100 new apprenticeships started in the sector between 2021-22.

As part of that data, ethnic minority representation in apprenticeships continues to grow, with a 6.47% representation in that overall figure – its highest point ever. This matches our own overall figure for the same period of 6.5%. However if we look at our data from the previous 5 years we actually have an average ethnic minority representation of 9.5%.

The government data shows that overall female apprenticeship representation declined slightly to 7.35% over the last 12 months. Again this is reflected in our own statistics that show female apprenticeship representation in 2021-22 at 6.5%, which is lower than in previous years, with our average over the past 5 years coming in at 10.6%.

Speaking about the latest data Julie Deeley, Director of Operations at EN:Able Futures, said:“It is great to see that the construction industry is embracing apprenticeships with the increase in overall numbers, and that there is generally an increasing pattern of representation amongst ethnic minorities and females in construction-based apprenticeships, but there is clearly much more that is needed to be done to appeal to these groups.”

“We’re proud to be able to demonstrate that in the last few years, our own representation of these groups has been consistently greater or uniform with national data. As an organisation we actively work to diversify the workforces we enhance with apprenticeships in the construction sector, and we will aim is to continue to doing this.

“We also always make sure our apprenticeship opportunities are promoted far and wide, taking advantage of the partnerships we have with Efficiency North’s membership of social housing landlords to access a diverse pool of candidates, aiding social mobility in the communities we work in.”

This Government research data referenced is publicly available here (direct data link here). The latest data for 2021/22 spans the time period of August 2021 to July 2022.