This study provides insights into workforce and training outcomes of apprentices. Approximately 75% of apprentices who are still found working or training in New Zealand are retained working or training in the same sector they started training in after 7 years. Younger apprentice appear to take longer to complete their apprenticeship with more apprentices with continued ITO enrollments after 4 years while older apprentices typically transition into self-employment quicker. Of those apprentices who go on to study with other tertiary organisations 30% are enrolled in courses related to their original apprenticeship and a further 5% are business management courses.
It is important for training providers to review the outcomes of their alumni to ensure their training is enabling their success post training. This study tracks apprentices through administrative records and reports outcomes in terms of their employment and training. We compare these outcomes between demographics to consider if there are any gaps in post training outcomes.
Each year after starting training apprentices were tracked by whether they were still enrolled in training, employed in industries related to their apprenticeship, training at other tertiary organisations, employed in other industries or are overseas. The chart below shows this data over time.
As apprentices graduate the proportion enrolled with their apprenticeship provider quickly drops off and the majority of these trainees remain employed in the industry related to their training with some progressing to self-employment.
Many apprentices go on to further training. Further down in this report we provider a breakdown of the level and industry relevance of this training. In summary, approximately 30% of this training is related to their apprenticeship and a further 5% is in business management.
Methodology
Each year we gather all new apprentices starting training with BCITO, Competenz, or Skills Org. We track these apprentices through administrative records and determine their primary activity each year after starting their apprenticeship. Activities are ranked in order of:
- Apprentice (continued ITO enrollment)
- Tertiary student (enrollment with other tertiary organisations)
- Employer (business income)
- Employee (wages and salaries, full time for at least 3 months)
- Overseas (an overseas spell for more than 3 months)
- Beneficiary (beneficiary income)
Where an apprentice who is still enrolled in with apprenticeship program with their ITO but also in employment will be recorded only as an apprentice.
The chart present below breaks down the industry relevance and level of tertiary training activities from the prior charts. About 30% of training enrollments are related to the original apprenticeship, while about 5% are business management courses.
Methodology
In earlier destinations we tracked apprentice alumni's enrollments into tertiary training. In this chart we break down the type of training based on level and NZSCED codes.
Business related training are all courses with a NZSCED code starting with 0803, while industry relevant training are all courses that share the same first four NZSCED digits as their original apprenticeship.
This chart displays the breakdown other industries from the prior charts. Carpentry apprentices who find employment in other sectors do so mostly in Agriculture and Administrative and Support services. In the second case this may be carpenters finding construction employment through labour supply service companies.
Methodology
In previous destinations analysis we tracked employment outcomes in terms of whether apprentices continued to work in the sector they trained in, e.g. construction for carpentry. This chart breaks down 'other industries' in the previous destinations chart into their top level ANZISC sector.
Older trainees spend less time training, are quicker to progress to self-employment but are also more likely to leave for employment in other industries. Younger apprentices are more likely to retain in their sector, however of those leave more enter other forms of tertiary training.
Methodology
Age is taken at the year of starting their apprenticeship.
Each year we gather all new apprentices starting training with BCITO, Competenz, or Skills Org. We track these apprentices through administrative records and determine their primary activity each year after starting their apprenticeship. Activities are ranked in order of:
- Apprentice (continued ITO enrollment)
- Tertiary student (enrollment with other tertiary organisations)
- Employer (business income)
- Employee (wages and salaries, full time for at least 3 months)
- Overseas (an overseas spell for more than 3 months)
- Beneficiary (beneficiary income)
Where an apprentice who is still enrolled in with apprenticeship program with their ITO but also in employment will be recorded only as an apprentice.
When comparing men and women it is important to drill down to a specific apprenticeship since the overall picture will include non-construction training included such as property sales & management service professionals through Skills Org. Gender rations within these non-construction programmes will be significantly different, as will the industry outcomes.
Unfortunately for many construction apprenticeships there were too fewer women to release reliable results from.
Methodology
Each year we gather all new apprentices starting training with BCITO, Competenz, or Skills Org. We track these apprentices through administrative records and determine their primary activity each year after starting their apprenticeship. Activities are ranked in order of:
- Apprentice (continued ITO enrollment)
- Tertiary student (enrollment with other tertiary organisations)
- Employer (business income)
- Employee (wages and salaries, full time for at least 3 months)
- Overseas (an overseas spell for more than 3 months)
- Beneficiary (beneficiary income)
Where an apprentice who is still enrolled in with apprenticeship program with their ITO but also in employment will be recorded only as an apprentice.
The below chart breaks down outcomes based on the region the apprentice started their training in.
Methodology
Region is defined as the region apprentices spend the most time in in the year of starting their apprenticeship.
Each year we gather all new apprentices starting training with BCITO, Competenz, or Skills Org. We track these apprentices through administrative records and determine their primary activity each year after starting their apprenticeship. Activities are ranked in order of:
- Apprentice (continued ITO enrollment)
- Tertiary student (enrollment with other tertiary organisations)
- Employer (business income)
- Employee (wages and salaries, full time for at least 3 months)
- Overseas (an overseas spell for more than 3 months)
- Beneficiary (beneficiary income)
Where an apprentice who is still enrolled in with apprenticeship program with their ITO but also in employment will be recorded only as an apprentice.
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.
