Official figures show that youth unemployment has now risen to 1 million people. The government is doing much to encourage apprenticeships once more, but do businesses in Southampton need them?
Three decades ago apprenticeships were all the rage, training up a generation of people for work with relevant practical training in important industries such as construction, engineering, electronics and manufacturing.
In more recent years vocational style training has been replaced with more of a focus on academic study, something many businesses – not just along the south coast – but across the UK, have complained about when it comes to finding qualified employees.
Local Winchester MP Steve Brine is an advocate of promoting apprenticeships. He told the Southampton Daily Echo in April that he believed British manufacturing would be one of the main stimulus points for economic recovery and that in order to succeed it was important to “intensify our efforts to re-establish apprenticeships as the primary form of practical training.”
Plans are not only place to offer Apprenticeship Schemes in traditional industries, but also in expanding industry sectors such as IT and more creative industries.
The Apprentices for Business program claims that 80% of those employers who employ apprentices agree they make their workplace more productive.
Taking on an apprentice may even help boost sales for your company, too, as 81% of consumers favour using a company which takes on apprentices.
So, the question remains: would you take on an apprentice for your business in Southampton and do you think apprenticeship schemes are a good way forward in general for the economy?
