The number of people undertaking construction-related apprenticeships such as carpentry has skyrocketed in the last year. It was announced on Wednesday at a Holmes Construction housing project in Brooklyn, Wellington, that there are currently 20,000 apprentices studying construction-related trades in New Zealand.
Chief Executive of Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation (BCITO), Toby Beaglehole said previously that the organisation supported around 600-800 new apprentices every year.
“We’re now running at that every month,” he said. “If the number of apprenticeship sign-ups continues at the current rate, we could have enough to meet the demand for qualified construction workers in New Zealand in the longer term. We wouldn’t have been able to achieve this without the Government’s investment in free trades training, and support for employers with the Apprenticeship Boost.”
