Andy DaviesIt's no wonder there's a shortage of skilled labour in the UK
Teenager has just started working part time at Greggs and gets just over £10 / hour
His mate starts his plumbing apprenticeship in Sept, and will be getting around £7 / hour
Geoff Winkless@andydavies in 3 year's time his mate will be charging 300 quid a day. Getting £7 an hour is better than paying thousands for a training qualification, isn't it?
@Geoff and yet we have a shortage of plumbers…
@andydavies but we have nearly 2 million students in full-time higher education and paying through the nose for the privilege.
Ask kids why they don't want to be plumbers. Money is unlikely to be the reason.
@Geoff Student loans are a deferred cost that affect future purchasing rather than earnings power
That said degrees are too expensive mainly because many are too long and should be two rather than three years in lectures ideally with a placement the middle
From what I see of teenagers money is a reason why some don't want to do apprentiships
@andydavies then give apprentices student loans to top up their incomes: problem solved.
@Geoff Prefer to give them a sensible wage to start with
@andydavies but then you're expecting the firm to pay a full wage while they're training an essentially-useless employee.
@Geoff No I'm expecting the firm to pay the minimum wage while investing for the future of the company… no trained plumbers no future for the company
Other companies with apprentices do it e.g. daughter's mate did one with an accountant and if anything accountants are more useless that plumbers when starting out at least a plumbers mate can fetch and carry
@andydavies so you think plumbers should have to pay people a full wage and teach them the job at the same time? Expect to see less apprenticeships offered then.
If you treat an apprentice like a cheap dogsbody then you'll find yourself thrown out of the apprentice scheme pretty sharpish, fwiw. You're expected to do on-the-job training, and have proof that you've done it. It's no small task.
@Geoff other businesses pay their trainees a decent wage why not plumbers (or other who just pay the minimum apprenticeship wage)
@andydavies because there's a difference between an apprenticeship and someone just starting as a junior.
We're going around in circles. For some reason you think apprentices should be paid to gain their qualifications that will earn them handsomely in later life when every other path has to pay thousands to gain theirs. We disagree. Let's leave it at that.