|
Myth or Reality - the Skills Development Act destroyed the
apprenticeship learning system - Empirically based Workforce
Planning The Human Sciences Research Council has recently
released an HRD Data Warehouse of critical information essential for
all companies embarking on workforce planning initiatives
The HRD Data Warehouse contains research on the broad areas of
education, employment and skills in South Africa. Information is
available in the form of documents that may be viewed and
downloaded, tables of summarised statistics and information on
various databases.
The HRD Data Warehouse may be accessed by following this URL:
http://hrdwarehouse.hsrc.ac.za or, if this link is not
operational, by visiting the HSRC homepage
http://www.hsrc.ac.za/
The importance of accessing this database to inform your
workforce planning or employment equity initiatives cannot be
overemphasised. It will also serve to overcome typical myths which
have existed about the South African workplace for many years.
To read more about or to
register for the Workinfo.com Workforce and Succession Planning
course – click here.
One simple illustration of this is to explore the issue of
apprenticeships. Many have held the view that the introduction of
learnerships and the associated Skills Development Act undermined
the very successful apprenticeship learning system. We need only
look at the list of Critical and Scarce skills lists published by
DOL to realise that many of the artisan trades listed therein we
developed through the apprenticeship training system.
So was the SDA legislation to blame? The simple answer is
No.
Apprenticeships have been on the decline since the late 1980's.
Viewing the data available from the HRD Data Warehouse, the
following picture emerges:
Using the data
in the table above, when doing an age analysis, the following
interesting facts emerge:-
|
Year |
No. of qualified apprenticeships |
Probable age of qualified apprenticeships in 2008
(assuming average age was 20 yrs when qualified) |
|
|
|
1970 |
5500 |
58 |
|
|
|
1971 |
6050 |
57 |
|
|
|
1972 |
7000 |
56 |
|
|
|
1973 |
7000 |
55 |
|
|
|
1974 |
8000 |
54 |
|
|
|
1975 |
8050 |
53 |
|
|
|
1976 |
8050 |
52 |
|
|
|
1977 |
8500 |
51 |
|
|
|
1978 |
9500 |
50 |
67650 |
25% |
|
1979 |
9600 |
49 |
|
|
|
1980 |
10000 |
48 |
|
|
|
1981 |
10500 |
47 |
|
|
|
1982 |
11000 |
46 |
|
|
|
1983 |
12000 |
45 |
|
|
|
1984 |
12000 |
44 |
|
|
|
1985 |
13500 |
43 |
|
|
|
1986 |
13100 |
42 |
|
|
|
1987 |
13000 |
41 |
|
|
|
1988 |
11000 |
40 |
123700 |
46% |
|
1989 |
8000 |
39 |
|
|
|
1990 |
7500 |
38 |
|
|
|
1991 |
7200 |
37 |
|
|
|
1992 |
8000 |
36 |
|
|
|
1993 |
9550 |
35 |
|
|
|
1994 |
7000 |
34 |
|
|
|
1995 |
5000 |
33 |
|
|
|
1996 |
3000 |
32 |
|
|
|
1997 |
4874 |
31 |
|
|
|
1998 |
4933 |
30 |
65057 |
24% |
|
1999 |
5145 |
29 |
|
|
|
2000 |
5600 |
28 |
|
|
|
2001 |
3191 |
27 |
|
|
|
2002 |
2916 |
26 |
|
|
|
2003 |
2779 |
25 |
|
|
|
2004 |
2548 |
24 |
22179 |
8% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
270,586 |
|
|
|
Some
preliminary conclusions
-
25% of all
qualified apprentices are 50yrs or older and therefore will
be leaving the labour market in 10 to 15 years
-
46% of …
all qualified apprentices
are now
aged between 40 and 50 years.
-
Therefore,
71% of all qualified apprentices of the total intake for the
period 1970 - 2004 will be retiring over the next 20 years.
-
Only 8% of
apprentices are aged between 24 and 30yrs.
Unless
planning is put in place now, within 15 years we will start
feeling the drastic skills shortage in this sector.
Thanks to the innovative
thinking of the Minister of Finance, the
new SDA Act will reinvigorate apprenticeship scheme along with
SARS budget plans. [To view the
new SDA Bill, click here]
An even
more disturbing feature is the decline in of apprenticeships in
specific high growth and critical economic sectors
The question then, is now having access to this data what
measures is your organisation putting in place to ensure that it has
the right people in the right place for the next 5 - 10 years?
To read more about or to
register for the Workinfo.com Workforce and Succession Planning
course – click here.
 |
Member
Content 
