There is often a gap between when an individual is employed in the trades, to when they commence an apprenticeship. This is due to both the employee and the employer testing whether the individual with make a good match with the employer and the industry. The time taken between employment and starting training varies between industries, with electricians taking the least amount of time, followed by plumbers and carpenters.
It is common in the trades for an employer to 'test out' an employee for a few months before agreeing to sign them up to an apprenticeship. Alternatively, new employees like to trial out an industry before committing to training. This report investigates the time taken between employment and training between industries and overtime.
The chart below demonstrates the distribution of time apprentices spend between employment and starting training. The data can be switched between industry. Looking specifically at carpentry, half of the apprentices start their training within 6 months of starting employment. The other half is much more spread out, with almost a quarter taking longer than 10 months in employment before starting training.
Methodology
From ministry of education records we take all apprentices starting with BCITO, Competenz and Skills Org each year. These apprentices are linked to their IRD tax records and their employer at the time of starting their apprenticeship is identified. To ensure we are identifying the correct employer associated with apprenticeship training we limit employers to those with at least three months of continuous employment of the apprentice after their start date. We then identify how long apprentices work for these employers prior to the official start date of their apprenticeship.
This chart shows how the distribution outlined above, changed over time. Again, looking at the carpentry industry, it can be observed that the median time an individual was employed prior to training jumped to 7 months in 2009, then fell to 5 months in 2010. The range of time spent increased throughout this same period to eventually peak in 2011. This is likely due to employers being less eager to sign on an apprentice during the recession in 2008 and 2009.
Methodology
From ministry of education records we take all apprentices starting with BCITO, Competenz and Skills Org each year. These apprentices are linked to their IRD tax records and their employer at the time of starting their apprenticeship is identified. To ensure we are identifying the correct employer associated with apprenticeship training we limit employers to those with at least three months of continuous employment of the apprentice after their start date. We then identify how long apprentices work for these employers prior to the official start date of their apprenticeship.
When comparing this distribution between industries, it can be seen that on median, electricians spent the shortest amount of time working for their employer prior to starting training of 4 months, while concreters took the longest amount of time of 14 months.
Methodology
From ministry of education records we take all apprentices starting with BCITO, Competenz and Skills Org each year. These apprentices are linked to their IRD tax records and their employer at the time of starting their apprenticeship is identified. To ensure we are identifying the correct employer associated with apprenticeship training we limit employers to those with at least three months of continuous employment of the apprentice after their start date. We then identify how long apprentices work for these employers prior to the official start date of their apprenticeship.
Access to the data used in this study was provided by Stats NZ under conditions designed to give effect to the security and confidentiality provisions of the Data and Statistics Act 2022. The results presented in this study are the work of the author, not Stats NZ or individual data suppliers.
These results are not official statistics. They have been created for research purposes from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) which is carefully managed by Stats NZ. For more information about the IDI please visit https://www.stats.govt.nz/integrated-data/.
The results are based in part on tax data supplied by Inland Revenue to Stats NZ under the Tax Administration Act 1994 for statistical purposes. Any discussion of data limitations or weaknesses is in the context of using the IDI for statistical purposes, and is not related to the data's ability to support Inland Revenue's core operational requirements.
