What’s next? Statistics Canada report looks at career pathways of people who discontinued their apprenticeships
A new research paper released by Statistics Canada looks at the career pathways of people who registered as apprentices, but discontinued their programs within six years of registration.
It’s commonly known that completing apprenticeship training and becoming a journeyperson generally leads to better career options and higher rates of pay. For example, Statistics Canada data shows that two years after certifying in the trades, journeypersons had a median employment income of $62,620 in 2019, compared with with $49,400 for individuals who completed an undergraduate degree.
But apprenticeship completion isn’t for everyone. Apprentices discontinue their programs for a variety of reasons, including job instability, receiving a better job offer and financial constraints. The 2015 National Apprenticeship Survey goes on to show that those who fail to complete their apprenticeships had a harder time finding permanent work, were often self-employed, and generally had lower median incomes than those who completed their training.
The Statistics Canada research paper, Educational pathways for those who discontinue their apprenticeship programs, looked at those apprentices who registered between 2008 and 2010 and discontinued their programs within six years of registration. The paper went on to consider those people’s future interactions with the Canadian postsecondary education system, up to 2020.
The report’s first key finding: male apprentices tended to have lower discontinuation rates than female apprentices.
Of those who started an apprenticeship program between 2008 and 2010, 44% discontinued their program within six years of registration. Over the same period, slightly fewer apprentices (40%) completed their program and certified in their trades.
Male apprentices had lower discontinuation rates than female apprentices (43% versus 49%). This trend was the case in 20 of the 25 trades studied in the report, and was particularly pronounced in programs where women have historically been underrepresented – including most construction-related trades.
The report’s second finding: men who left their apprenticeship programs were more likely than women to pursue other trades, while women who left were more likely to participate in another postsecondary program.
Data from Statistics Canada’s Education and Labour Market Longitudinal Platform goes on to show that, of those who exited their apprenticeship programs within six years, 60% had left the post-secondary education system altogether by 2019.
Of the remaining 40%, men (27%) were more likely than women (10%) to apprentice in another trade, while women (30%) were more likely than men (17%) to pursue another postsecondary program at a public college or university.
Very few (5% of men and 2% of women) of those who discontinued their training returned to their original programs.
Although the differences were small, those who discontinued a Red Seal trade were generally more likely to return to their apprenticeship training than those in a non-Red Seal trade, for both men and women.
The report’s third finding suggests that those who took up new apprenticeships often did so in trades relating to their original programs.
Discontinuing an apprenticeship program does not necessarily mean an individual stopped pursuing employment in the skilled trades, the authors suggest. After discontinuing a program, approximately one-quarter (26%) of men and 10% of women studied another trade.
Of those discontinuers who apprenticed in another trade, about half (44% of men and 57% of women) apprenticed in a program related to the trade they discontinued. This could be because they felt the new trade was more aligned with their interests or that it provided better employment outcomes, and some of the training and experience they acquired in the program they discontinued may have been transferred.
The percentage of discontinuers pursuing another apprenticeship program varied across trades.
Discontinuers of service-related trades, such as hairstylists and cooks, were less likely to apprentice in another trade than those who discontinued from construction-related trades.
Among those who pursued another trade, about 45% of men and 30% of women went on to complete an apprenticeship program and certify in the skilled trades by 2020.
Finally, the report found that women were more likely than men to attend a postsecondary institution after discontinuing their apprenticeship program.
By the 2018/2019 academic year, a little less than one in three women (30%) attended a postsecondary institution after discontinuing their apprenticeship, whereas this was the case for a little less than one in five men (17%).
Men and women enrolled in different fields of study after discontinuation. For women, health professions and related programs was the most common field, while liberal arts and sciences, general studies and humanities was the most common for men.
The most common field of study varied across trades, and some discontinuers appear to have studied in a field related to the trade they discontinued. For example, mechanic and repair technologies/technicians was the most common field of study for men who discontinued several trades, such as automotive service technician, welder, heavy-duty equipment technician and industrial mechanic (millwright).
For female apprentices who discontinued early childhood educator and educational assistant trades, family and consumer sciences/human sciences was the most common field of study.