Number of women starting science, technology and engineering apprenticeships won’t catch up with men till 2044, says Labour

On current trends, it would take 22 years (until 2044) for the same number of women to be starting STEM apprenticeships as men, according to new analysis by the Labour Party conducted as part of National Apprenticeship Week.

Labour’s analysis found that:

• Between 2020/21 and 2021/22 (most recent year’s data), the percentage of STEM apprenticeships that were started by a woman fell by 1 percentage point to 14%
• 70,000 fewer women than men started STEM apprenticeships in the last year.
• 457,700 fewer women than men started STEM apprenticeships in the last six years.
• 64,760 women started STEM apprenticeships since 2016/17 as opposed to 522,460 men – eight times fewer women than men.
• In non-STEM industries, almost the opposite was true, with 75,500 more women than men starting last year.
• In non-STEM fields, the number of women and men starting apprenticeships has fallen by 13% since 2018/19, with similar drops in both groups.
• In 2021/22, in every region, more men than women started and completed apprenticeships in STEM industries.

Many more women start apprenticeships than men in business, administration and law (13,030), education and training (4,480), health, public services and care (54,310), and retail and commercial enterprise (5,010).

However, in construction, planning and the built environment (22,210), engineering and Manufacturing Technologies (39,740), information and Communication Technology (8,160), many more men start apprenticeships.

Of all those who start an apprenticeship in information and communication technology, women are six percentage points less likely to successfully complete it than men are.  Taking all industries together, however, women and men are equally likely to achieve an apprenticeship (58%). The total apprenticeship achievement rate has dropped across all industries over the last few years – from 65% in 2018 to 58% last year. Women remain underrepresented within the STEM workforce, including key defence engineering roles. 

Labour’s analysis for the low numbers of women taking STEM apprenticeships has pointed to the drastic shortage of science and mathematics teachers, particularly in physics, with recruitment targets failed for consecutive years under the Conservative government.

New data published by UCAS today will reveal further falls in the number of applicants for teaching roles, driving fears that critical shortages of teachers in key STEM subjects will grow in the coming years. Labour plans to fill teaching vacancies by recruiting 6,500 more teachers, including those in key STEM subjects, paid for by reversing private school’s tax breaks.

Apprenticeship starts have plummeted under the Conservatives, with 170,000 fewer people starting these training opportunities. Over 11 million adults lack basic digital skills needed in our economy, while four in 10 young people are leaving education without the qualifications they need to get on.

Boosting Britain’s skills will be a national mission for Labour, led by a new national skills taskforce, Skills England, which brings together businesses, training providers and unions to meet the skills needs of the next decade across all regions, offer young people opportunities and ensure that the UK can achieve net zero.

Labour’s drive for jobs and growth will in part be driven by pushing decisions on skills spending out to local communities, so those communities can better match up skills training with their local business needs. By giving power to local communities, Labour will grow local and regional economies across England.

Labour will also give businesses the flexibility they are asking for to train their workforce and deliver growth, starting by turning the Tories’ failed apprenticeships levy into a ‘Growth and Skills Levy’ so it can be used on the greater range of training courses that businesses tell us they need, and so adults can gain new skills and businesses can grow.

Labour is set to announce further reforms in the coming days, directing investment at workforces where the skills gap is greatest as part of the party’s pledge to deliver its Green Prosperity Plan. 

On a visit to Rolls Royce, Bridget Phillipson MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Education, said:

“Women remain underrepresented in STEM roles in industry because of the flaws baked into our education system by thirteen years of Conservative government.

“Both the lack of science teachers in our schools and dwindling apprenticeship opportunities are denying women opportunities to build the STEM careers of the future.

“Labour will fill current teaching vacancies in key STEM subjects as part of a teacher recruitment drive paid for by ending private schools’ tax breaks, ensure young women have face-to-face careers guidance in schools and ensure more young women get opportunities to build STEM skills through a new Growth and Skills Levy that gives businesses the flexibility they need in training their workforce.”

Shadow Defence Secretary John Healey said:

“Apprenticeships are the backbone of a strong UK defence industry, but new starts have plummeted under the Conservatives and women remain underrepresented across the sector.

“This not only hollows out skills and expertise that firms have built up over decades, but it undermines our ability to deliver frontline capabilities at a time when threats are increasing. 

“Labour will breathe new life into the development of UK skills. We will also provide businesses with the certainty they need to invest in their workforce by directing UK defence investment first to UK companies, with a higher bar set for buying abroad.”