The number of apprentices continues to grow, according to data from the Tertiary on Education Counts.

Apprentices have historically been school leavers, but with free trades training there is a big jump (19.7%) in workers aged 25 to 39 taking the opportunity for a career change, and more than 1,500 additional apprentices aged over 40.

The number of Māori and Pacific apprentices grew almost 30 per cent last year, and the number of women training to be apprentices is growing at nearly twice the rate of male apprentices.

The December 2020 Enrolment Update is produced by the TEC. It showed that, compared to December 2019, the number of apprentices aged 25 to 39-years-old increased by 3,730 (19.7%) and those 40-years-old and over increased by 1,510 (28.3%). Māori and Pacific apprentice numbers increased by 2,295 (28%) and 965 (29.2%) respectively, compared to 6,355 (16%) for other ethnicities. There was a 29.1 per cent growth rate for women apprentices (1,635) against a 15.9 per cent growth rate for men (6,790).

Indicative March 2021 data shows the number of domestic students increasing by 12%, compared with around 1% for each of the previous three years, and repeated falls in the full-year enrolment data in years before that.

The growth in 2021 is more pronounced among older people, with building courses and teacher training standing out.

Achieving growth in both on- and off-the-job training and education at the same time and avoiding a seesaw up-and-down cycle is one of the central pillars of RoVE.