92015 ‘Appreticeships: Cheap and cheerless |The Economist UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE SUBSCRIBE Fie ane ctl | ‘m0 SAVE Executive cation eee ee eee Apprenticeships Ccanment 2 © Teepe easg it Cheap and cheerless a Resin &pemssions one srtainn sds better apprenticeships, not more of them occ 7) RIGHARO KELSALL 2 qty spoken 20-year, nas avays ted working wth is | Ez Which hands. While at schoo), he spent summer holdays working as a stonemason and on canal boats. When nearly all of his tlends went to university, he started as an apprentice at i aeecre elas eee oe eer eects undreds of “They are all having to pull out loans. prospective MBA students Polticians from all the big parties agree: apprenticeships area teri thing, Around 440,000, people started one in 2013-14, up from 280,000 in 2009-10. Thal costs money: the Exhibit at The Economist's ‘government has a £5 bllon ($2.3 bilion) pot for covering part o alo he training costs, But polticians are united by their desire to boost them further. The Conservatives want to ‘und 3m apprenticeships by 2020. On February ‘6th the opposition Labour Party pledged to increase the number of "high-qualty’ ones by 80,000 a year. DEER Mca Follow The Economist ‘Although youth unemplayment is ebbing in Britain, tis stil Te high at 14%, After the 2008 recession, youngsters without @ Ei wl Bs & 8 6 university degree or is vocational equivalent fared especially badly (see chart), Apprenticeships would seem an excelent AT=puaton st ik remedy. Several European sties have suggested that fms Teel sea are more produclve fats of ther workers rave vocational Weak feundatons Latest updates » degrees—though not necessary more profile, Boosters ts acton House of Cards recente | Sher 57 ia often kept on for three or four years; in Britain, the minimum requirement is a year. Swiss youngsters, mary of whamgo Plies is rote mune mcr ste ‘on todo university degrees, know that with an apprenticeship Gavemment and paltics ee ee they are geting a "world-class education’, says Stefan os Wolter, a professor at the University of Bern. By contrast half = “the view from Moscow. Underwor of Bish frms surveyed for a goverment study in 2014 only Bush wales eet offered Level apprenticeships (he equivalent ofa GCSE). __Fepeen alles Irained toa Level 3 standard (the equivalent of an A-level experience a larger wage boost ered than do thase who only study to Level 2; they also seem to sustain this wage premium for Denecrayin Aer | Mar 6, 188 longer. But better schemes are costly. It takes three years and seven months for an ‘engineering frm to recoup the costs af training an apprentice to a Level 3 standard na "A Love Supreme” at 50:A glorous More rigorous training is a boon to apprentices. Another 2014 study found that apprentices é Cones according to a 2012 study from the business department, By contrast, a Level 2 apprentice finale in etall makes money for a frm after two years and three months Prospero | Mar Se, 1738 ‘Yet polticians often seem transfixed by overall numbers. Under the previous Labour The European Contral Bank: Let the show begin ‘government, the number of Level 2 apprenticeships scared. The coalition government has Fie exchange] Mar th 17.14 hipslvww economist com newsritsin2 1645758 biti needs-beltr-appreniceship-no-more:them.-cheap-and-cheerless 1%92015 ‘expanded adult apprenticeships: the number starting at age 25 or ober has more than doubled since 2009. But some of these wil TD sesaue oftheir own ee Grates: Non-graduates ges be existing employees, recassifed to get Sieene 25 government bungs. See. SD Im 2013 the government introduced a 2 ‘walblazer” system in which big employers B ‘get together to promote higher-quality schemes. Around 1,000 employers out of 100,000 that offer appreniceshis have signed up. The proportion of businesses offering Level3 apprenticeships has increased slightly over the past year. Sti, a strong impression remains that apprenticeships are for those who have falled at school. A study from Demos, @ think-tank, con March Sth found that only 32% of parents thought they would be a good idea for ther children, Only one teacher tok! Mr Kelsall about apprenticeships; the rest were keen for all pupils to do “the whale un thing’ he says. 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Subset The Economist ana gene week’ est ss relevantnews and analy hipslvww. economist com neweritsin2 1645758 bitin needs-beltr-appreniceship-no-more:them.-cheap-and-cheerless ‘Appreticeships: Cheap and cheerless |The Economist Most commented 4 Boris Nemtsov Liberal martyr ‘Amotiea and Israel Loy eas, lw poties Conflict in Ukraine: Mare boot onthe ground ‘Tho Economist explsine: Wy Biryamin Netanyanus giving @spooch fo Congress [Amatica and Iran: The best of bad options Products and events Have you listened to The Economist Radio on Facebook? The Economist Radio is an on-demand social Istening platform that allows you to Isten, share and recommend The Economist audio content Tost yourEQ Take our weekly news quiz to stay ontop ofthe headings In Other Words Try our new audio app and website, provising reporting and anatysis from our correspondents around the world every weekday Want more from The Economist? 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