This chapter examines the median weekly earnings and sectors of employment of apprentices in the years after qualification. Only those who earned their income exclusively as an employee, through the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) system, were included in this analysis. Those who derived any of their income from self-employment activities registered through the self-assessment system were excluded here.
Further details on earnings calculation and main employment are provided in the Background Notes.
Engineering & Engineering Trades was the field of education with the highest number of qualified apprentices in 2020 in employment two years after qualification, at 1,605 apprentices.
Other apprenticeship programmes that had high employment levels were Architecture & Construction, with 370 qualified apprentices in employment two years after completion and Business & Administration with 165 apprentices.
More than half (64%) of the qualified apprentices in 2020 were in employment in either the Construction or Industry sectors two years after qualification. The Construction sector was the largest sector of employment for apprentices with 870 working in the sector two years after completion. This represented a 64% rise compared with those who qualified in 2019 when 530 apprentices worked in the Construction sector.
The number of qualified apprentices working in Industry two years after qualification also increased, from 370 in 2019 to 575 in 2020.
The number of apprentices employed in Wholesale & Retail Trade two years after qualification fell, from 300 in 2019 to 270 in 2020.
There was a decrease in median weekly earnings from €840 to €815 for those who qualified in 2018 relative to those who qualified in 2017. In the following years there was a gradual increase in earnings. The median weekly earnings of those who qualified in 2019 and in employment two years later were €30 higher compared with the 2018 apprentices, amounting to €845. For those who qualified in 2020, the median weekly earnings after two years were €935, representing a €90 annual increase.
Note that the level of earnings has been impacted by the COVID-19 income support schemes in place in 2020 and 2021.
Apprentices who qualified in 2019 from craft apprenticeships had median weekly earnings of €850 two years after their programme completion. Their counterparts who qualified from a consortia-led apprenticeship in 2019 earned €85 less, at €765. The 2020 cohort saw a large annual increase of €100 for craft apprentices, with median weekly earnings of €950. Those who completed a consortia-led programme in 2020 had median weekly earnings of €770 two years later, which were relatively similar to those of the 2019 cohort.
The apprentices who completed their qualification in Engineering & Engineering Trades in 2020 had the highest median earnings two years later of €975 per week, followed by Architecture & Construction apprentices who earned €870 per week, then Manufacturing & Processing apprentices who earned €800.
The apprenticeship field with the lowest median weekly earnings was Personal Services. Qualified apprentices from this field had median weekly earnings after two years of €685.
Of the 2019 cohort, the Engineering & Engineering Trades apprentices had the highest median weekly earnings two years after completion of €860. Three years after qualification, their median weekly earnings were €95 higher, at €955. Those who qualified in Architecture & Construction had median earnings of €840 per week after two years, which increased by €60 after three years, amounting to €900 per week.
The largest growth in median weekly earnings for the 2019 cohort was for the Business & Administration qualified apprentices. They had median weekly earnings of €670 two years after qualification, followed by an increase to €805 per week three years after qualification. This represents a rise of €135 per week.
This section looks at the transition of newly-qualified apprentices from their original employer to a new employer.
The percentages of Business and Administration apprentices who were working with the same employer as during their apprenticeship and with a different employer two years after their qualification in 2020, was 48.5%. The remainder, 51.5% were working for a different employer.
In Architecture and Construction the percentage of qualified apprentices working with the same employer was 45%. The remaining 55% were working with a different employer two years after qualification.
Engineering and Engineering Trades saw the greatest change in employers of all qualified apprentices, with 58% of them working with a different employer two years later.
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