Good News For Apprentices: 58% Of The Employers Looking To Hire More

Mumbai, 9^thMarch 2021: India’s largest degree apprenticeship program NETAP [National Employability through Apprenticeship Program] from TeamLease Skills University has launched their latest edition of Apprenticeship Outlook Report for H1 2021 (January to June 2021). According to the report findings, around 41% of the employers are keen on hiring apprenticeships. In fact, the employers who have expressed interest in hiring apprentices has increased by 8% point this half year compared to the previous half year(33%). As per the report not only there is buoyancy towards the concept of apprenticeship, employers are even keen to ramp up their apprenticeship hiring. More than 58% of the companies reviewed were keen on increasing their apprenticeship hiring indicating positive momentum in apprenticeship eco-system.

A detailed analysis as per the report, out of the 18 sectors reviewed more than 16 were keen on hiring apprentices. While Manufacturing (55%), Automobiles & Ancillaries (51%) and Retail (48%) are the leaders, sectors like Travel and Hospitality and Beauty & Wellness who very severely hit by the COVID also seems to be making a strong come back. Travel &Hospitality and Beauty &Wellness which were at -10% point and -5% point respectively in the previous half year (July – December 2020) have made a remarkable turnaround. The net apprenticeship outlook for Travel and Hospitality and Beauty and Wellness have grown by 34% and 31% respectively.

The report findings also indicate a positive time for women apprentices. Overall the preference for women apprentices has increased by 10% y-o-y, especially in sectors like Agriculture, where the inclination to hire women candidates has increased by 40%. Cities like Bangalore, Mumbai, and Kolkata are the most welcoming towards female candidates compared to other cities.

Sharing his views on the current apprentice hiring trends, Mr Sumit Kumar, Vice President-NETAP, TeamLease Skill University said, “Apprentice hiring has embarked on a very positive trajectory in the last couple of years as more employers are realizing the merit of the apprenticeship model to build a robust pipeline of employable talent. In fact, from 2018 to now, we have seen a 2.5% y-o-y increase in employers who are willing to increase their apprentice intake. This positive momentum has happened despite the dip in the labor market during the Covid-19 lockdown. What is very interesting to note is the current projections which not only indicates an overall increase in hiring, but the fact that sectors like Travel and Hospitality as well as Beauty and Wellness which were adversely hit by the pandemic, are now showing aggressive turnaround in their apprenticeship hiring sentiments.”

Dwelling deep into the report findings, from a city perspective, with more than 57% of the employers indicating their willingness to hire apprentices in Chennai, Chennai has emerged as the most apprentice friendly city. From a non-metro point of view, Ahmedabad and Nagpur are the most promising cities. Taking into account business size, the net apprenticeship outlook is projected to see a positive increase across small, medium and large businesses.

From a profile and job role angle, roles like Fitter/Welder (in manufacturing) followed by Sales Executive (in agriculture) were the most sought after.

KEY FINDINGS FROM THE REPORT

• Net Apprenticeship Outlook NAO for the current HY (Jan-Jun 2021) has increased to 41% (an increase from 33% from the previous HY (Jul-Dec 2020)):
  • Manufacturing (55%), Automobiles & Ancillaries (51%) and Retail (48%): have a higher NAO when compared to other sectors.
  • Sectors which were severely impacted by the Pandemic in the last HY are seeing significant growth in the current HY – Travel & Hospitality (growth of 34%), Beauty & Wellness (growth of 31%).
  • Similarly, Small businesses which were heavily hit by the pandemic are likely to witness a growth of 23% in hiring apprentices (Growth of 8% in current HY from [-15%] in previous HY)
• Top 3 reasons for employers to increase hiring of apprentices:
  • To handle frequent demand surges due to the pandemic: 31%
  • To optimize the manpower cost of work at basic levels: 23%
  • To offset the workforce scarcity due to the COVID pandemic: 15%
• Key areas of hiring during Jan 2021 – Jun 2021: Employers preferred category of apprentices and job roles to hire.
  • Trade – Outlook: 55% (Preferred Job role – Fitter / Welder – Outlook: 25% / Average number of hires: 37)
  • Technician – Outlook: 43% (Preferred Job role – Automobile/Mechanical Technician  –Outlook: 28% / Average number of hires: 34)
  • Graduate – Outlook: 28% (Preferred Job role – Production Engineer – Outlook: 31% / Average number of hires: 31)
• Top functional domain(s) where the apprentices are likely to be hired the most in the next 6 months: Production & Engineering – Outlook: 42%, Sales – Outlook: 28%.
• The preference for Female candidates has increased by 10% YoY
  • This preference is more pronounced in the Agriculture sector when preference for female candidates has doubled to 40% YoY.
• Overview of distribution of apprentices across states, organization types and Industries.
  • Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh are the top 4 states engaging more than 60% of apprentices.
  • Across different organization types, large organizations (55%) employ more than half the apprentices. The same holds true for the private sector (employ 55% of all apprentices).
  • By industry, Manufacturing engages the highest proportion of apprentices (53.2%)
• Employers in all metro cities anticipate an increase in their apprentice hiring numbers for the current HY
  • Chennai has the highest NAO (57%) among the metro cities.
  • Kolkata on the other hand, continues to have the lowest NAO (36%)
• Apprentice hiring sentiments among Non Metros:
  • Ahmedabad continues to top the NAO chart (54%) for the current HY
  • Nagpur graduates to the second spot with a 26% NAO
  • Coimbatore is at the bottom of the chart with a NAO of 21%.
• Top Job profiles [forecast for HY-1: Jan 2021 – Jun 2021]
  • Fitter/Welder (NAO: 25%) under Trade category, Production Engineer (NAO: 31%) under Graduate category
  • Automobile/Mechanical technician (NAO: 28%) under Technician category and Computer technician (NAO: 29%) under Technician Vocational category are the most sought after job profiles for hiring during the current HY.
• Business Size-A Comparison with HY Jul 2020 – Dec 2020.
• • Small businesses anticipated significant growth of 23% compared to the previous HY (Jul-Dec,2020)
  • Large businesses report the strongest hiring outlook with a NAO of 50%,
  • Small businesses reported the lowest NAO of 8% this HY, however their hiring intentions have grown 23% compared to the previous HY

   

  The Apprenticeship Outlook Report is a detailed survey, covering 14 cities and 18 leading sectors. The report has surveyed 600 companies and captures the hiring sentiment for the period H1 (January to June) 2021.