Apprentice boost 'too small'

By SIMON COLLINS

Rising wages and more government funding are not enticing enough young people into apprenticeships to satisfy industry demand.

The Government announced plans yesterday to boost apprenticeships by 50 per cent in the next three years.

But Bruce Howat, of Apprentice Training NZ, which manages apprenticeships in the engineering industry, said he had 80 vacancies which he could not fill.

"Informally, the number would be closer to 200 on the basis that if we had young people we could go and talk companies into taking on an apprentice," he said.

Building industry traineeships are also at a record level of 4000 as pay rates on Auckland building sites soar.

Bernard Te Paa, of the Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation, said earning rates for contractors with trade qualifications had jumped 25 per cent in the past year.

"Some tradespeople are getting $27 to $28 an hour. A year ago that would have been around $20 an hour," he said.

Auckland Building Trades Union secretary Pat Roberts said those figures were extreme. But trades people had gained increases of about $2 an hour in the past year, taking them from about $16 an hour to $18.

Apprentices still typically start on about $8 an hour and build up to trade rates over three years.

The Government's plan - the latest piece of "good news" being drip-fed before Thursday's Budget - promises to take the number of apprentices from 5102 to 6000 by December and 7500 by 2006.

Another pre-Budget package, unveiled on May 1, said industry traineeships overall would rise from 107,000 last year to 150,000 by 2005, with a "stretch target" of 250,000 by 2007.

Trainees can be of any age - the average in engineering is 26 - whereas apprentices must be 21 or younger.

The executive director of the Industry Training Federation, Darel Hall, said total traineeships "live" at one time had grown from about 28,000 in the 1970s and 1980s to 49,577 in June 1999 and 83,456 last December.

"We are getting more and more demand from businesses to get people into traineeships," he said.

But Mr Howat said many young people were ill-equipped to start apprenticeships because the amount of practical woodwork and metalwork in the new school technology curriculum had been reduced.

At home, opportunities to work with tools had been reduced because housing space did not allow for workshops and many children were in one-parent homes.

Also, it was hard to get through young people to comprehend that a secure and solid trade career would set them up for a better financial position than a lot of other options.

Although engineering apprentices might start on $7 to $8 an hour, he said, they would earn between $40,000 and $45,000 a year at the end of their three-year training. He contrasted that with a recent Herald report that university graduates started on $30,000-$40,000 - and with substantial student-loan debts.

Yesterday's "good news" Budget package also included lifting the number of "Gateway" one-day-a-week work placements for high school students. They will go up from this year's 3150 to 5000 next year and 12,000 by 2007.

The programme will be extended to all high schools in the lower five income deciles.

Student allowances will be restored from January for 16 and 17-year-olds who have completed Year 13 (seventh form) or passed the University Bursary exam or attained level 3 of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement.

Training package:

*The number of apprentices will go up from 5102 now to 6000 by December and 7500 by 2006.

* Overall, industry traineeships will rise from 107,000 last year to 150,000 by 2005, with a target of 250,000 by 2007.