TUC welcomes efforts to improve apprenticeships but says huge pay inequalities remain
Women starting apprenticeships are far more likely to end up in a low-paid job because they have trained in a female-dominated sector, new figures show.
Research published by unionlearn, the learning and skills arm of the TUC, found that certain apprenticeships are almost exclusively followed by women. This leads to a ‘gendered’ imbalance that continues long into an individual’s career. In teaching support, for example, 89.7 per cent of starts in 2011/12 were female, in hairdressing this was 91.2 per cent, and working with children and young people 93.1 per cent.
And while there has been a significant rise in the number of women taking apprenticeships in the last 10 years – the numbers have doubled – their choice of sector often results in them pursuing a career where wages tend to be lower, and where there is less chance of progression.
In 2011/12, just over half of all apprenticeship starts were female, according to unionlearn and figures from the National Apprenticeship Service. Yet in the traditionally male sectors of construction, electro-technical and vehicle maintenance and repair, women accounted for less than 2 per cent of starts. They made up less than 4 per cent of the cohort embarking on apprenticeships in engineering and driving.
The report also highlighted how black and Asian people tend to be under-represented in high-paid sectors such as engineering or electro-technical. Fewer than one in 25 black and Asian apprentices entered engineering during 2011 to 2012, for example.
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “There is genuine political will to try and improve apprenticeships and people’s access to them. However, this research shows that huge inequalities remain.
“Unless we create better training and employment opportunities for young people, and challenge gender stereotyping and discrimination from the outset, the situation is not going to improve.”
The TUC argued that policies aimed at tackling gender inequalities at work should be targeted at young people entering the labour market, and that schools should promote apprenticeships as an opportunity for all rather than reinforcing gender stereotypes.
It also advocated an increase in the number of employer-led taster courses and work experience for young people to give them more insight before they choose their apprenticeship, as well as targeted support for young women and students from ethnic backgrounds.