Apprenticeships facts and figures

• As of 1st October 2015, the minimum hourly wage for apprentices is £3.30, although many employers pay much more than this.

• The average pay for an apprentice is around £170 per week, according to the National Apprenticeship Service

• Up to 25,000 apprenticeship vacancies are available online at any time 100 years ago the most popular apprenticeship was dressmaking; in 2014 it was health and social care

• 55% of apprenticeships are taken up by women

• In the past, an apprentice could find themselves in court for having a ‘bad attitude’

• You can become an apprentice in over 170 industries and there are more than 1500 job roles available

• Over two million apprentices have started training in England since 2010

• 19% of advanced apprentices go on to Higher Education

• 90% of apprentices stay in employment once the apprenticeship ends; 71% of those people stay with the same employer

• Famous apprentices include designers Stella McCartney and Karen Millen, former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, chefs Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay and musicians Eric Clapton, George Harrison (the Beatles) and Elvis Presley

• Other popular apprenticeships in 2014 included business administration, management, hospitality and catering, and customer service

Sources: National Apprenticeship Service; gov.uk; Skills Funding Agency data; National Audit Office; Ancestry; the Centre for Economics and Business Research