Public perception of trades and apprenticeship completion rates

Annalise Murray; Brigid Francis-Devine

Documents to download

Public perception of trades and apprenticeship completion rates (213 KB , PDF)

Download ‘Public perception of trades and apprenticeship completion rates’ report (213 KB , PDF)

Background

The occupation grouping “Skilled trades occupations” includes construction and building trades, food preparation and hospitality trades and agricultural and related trades. This debate pack provides information for all of these industries, but focuses on trades jobs in the construction industry.

Employment in trades occupations

Data from the ONS Annual Population Survey shows that, in July 2023 to June 2024, there were 1.88 million employees working in skilled trades occupations.

Data from the ONS Business Register and Employment Survey shows that in 2023, there were 1.49 million employees in Great Britain working in the construction industry.

Recruitment in the construction industry

13% of businesses in the construction industry had difficulty recruiting skilled, manual and technical employees. 77% of businesses in construction did not have recruitment difficulties.

A 2022/23 survey of 100,000 young people by the Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC), the national body for careers education, showed that 9% of students in Year 11 were interested in a career in construction.

Apprenticeship completion rates

Skills and training are devolved policy areas. The statistics in this Debate Pack cover apprenticeships in England.

In 2022/23, the apprenticeship achievement rate was 54.6%. In the same year, the achievement rate for construction apprenticeships was 53.0%. The achievement rate was 47.2% for engineering and manufacturingapprenticeships, and 60.0% for retail and commercial apprenticeships.