His call comes at the start of Apprenticeship Week, which runs until Friday, and is designed to showcase the benefits of apprenticeships.
The government is demonstrating its own commitment to apprenticeships as a route to create a new generation of skilled workers by increasing the budget for the initiative to more than £1,400 million in the 2011-2012 financial year. The goal is to deliver 100,000 more apprentices by 2014.
Dr Cable also highlighted some of the 85,000 employers in England to offer apprenticeships in around 200 job roles, including British Airways, BT and Jaguar Land Rover, pointing out that 80 per cent of those who employ apprentices agree that they make the workplace more productive.
With unemployment among 16 to 24-year-olds at record levels, any initiative that helps to set those at the start of their working life on the path to a worthwhile career is to be welcomed.
But it appears there are still some glitches to be ironed out in the apprenticeship initiative. Government figures that emerged at the weekend show that some 26.2 per cent of apprentices gave up their on-the-job training in 2009-2010 compared with only 7.2 per cent who abandoned university.
One small firm that takes on three apprentices a year was quoted in the Daily Telegraph as saying the dropout rate was “frightening” and was likely to be a factor in businesses being reluctant to get involved. Other reasons cited for the high number of apprentices leaving the scheme early included a change of heart about the career path they wanted to follow, finding it hard to make early starts or adapting to longer working hours.
The government’s National Apprenticeship Service, which runs the schemes, says that the dropout rate has vastly improved over the last decade: in 2002, just 24 per cent of candidates completed the programme.
But in these times of austerity, hard-pressed taxpayers will be looking for the government’s extra money for apprenticeships to deliver a real return on the investment. They may think that might start with schools, colleges and businesses making sure candidates have the clearest possible picture of what an apprenticeship will require of them and the benefits it will bring in the longer term.
For example, there’s evidence that apprentices will earn up to £100,000 over their lifetime than non-apprentice counterparts. And that’s a bonus that many might think it’s worth getting hired for.
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