Only half of apprentices complete program, says new study (February 01, 2006)

About one-half of the individuals who registered in some form of apprenticeship program in 1992 in Ontario, Alberta and New Brunswick had actually completed training a decade later in the trade they had chosen, according to a new pilot study by Statistics Canada.

Depending on the province, a small minority, between 5% and 12% of the apprentices who started their program in 1992, were still in training by 2002. Some of these, however, had completed their 1992 trade and were learning a new trade.

Overall, between 46% and 51% of apprentices interrupted their studies at some point, and about one-tenth of the apprentices who interrupted their studies eventually completed the program.

The pilot study was established to examine completion rates among registered apprentices. The issue is important because there is growing concern about potential shortages in various trades across the country and the relatively low completion rate for some apprenticeship programs.

The study traced the path of a group of about 14,000 apprentices who registered in 1992 — 8,300 in Ontario, 4,800 in Alberta and 900 in New Brunswick. The total represented about half of all individuals who registered as an apprentice in 1992.

Although the report does not analyze reasons for non-completion, further research may be able to measure the effect of employment opportunities, costs of the apprenticeship training, a lack of journeymen available for training apprentices, family reasons and union jurisdictional roles.

The report, Registered Apprentices: The Class of 1992, a Decade Later, is available online from www.statcan.ca.