Are apprenticeships still the route to a high paying career?

Apprenticeships are often promoted as an alternative to university and a route into skilled, well paid work. But while Ireland is expected to need tens of thousands of additional construction workers, young people trying to secure their first apprenticeship can face a difficult road, with first year construction apprentices currently entitled to as little as €7.91 an hour.

For many young people, an apprenticeship is supposed to offer the best of both worlds. Instead of spending several years in full time education, apprentices can learn a skilled trade while gaining practical experience and earning a wage.

The Government has been actively encouraging more people into apprenticeships, with the number of registrations reaching record levels in recent years. In 2024, there were 9,352 new apprenticeship registrations, compared with 8,712 in 2023 and 6,177 in 2019. The Government has set a target of reaching 12,500 new registrations a year by 2030.

But there is another side to the story.

For someone who wants to become a plumber, electrician, carpenter or another skilled tradesperson, getting the apprenticeship in the first place can be one of the biggest challenges. And once they do get one, the pay during the early years can be surprisingly low.

Ireland needs more tradespeople

Ireland's growing demand for construction workers is one of the main reasons the Government has been pushing apprenticeships.

A Government analysis found that Ireland could need around 69,000 additional workers in residential construction and retrofitting by 2030, as the country works towards building an average of 50,000 homes a year and meeting its retrofitting targets.

Plumbing is one of the trades where demand is particularly noticeable. The latest SOLAS skills analysis identifies plumbers and heating and ventilation engineers as occupations in demand. There were 832 new plumbing apprentice registrations in 2024, an increase of 13% on 2023 and 32% compared with 2019.

That creates an obvious question.

If Ireland needs more plumbers, why can it still be so difficult for someone trying to become a first year apprentice to find an employer?

The first year problem

Unlike the CAO system, where applications and college offers can be tracked nationally, there is no equivalent national figure showing exactly what percentage of people who look for an apprenticeship actually secure one.

Apprenticeships are largely driven by employers. A person can be interested in becoming a plumber and register their interest in an apprenticeship, but they still need to find an employer willing to take them on and register them.

That means there is no reliable national figure that can simply answer the question: what percentage of people who apply for apprenticeships get one?

It would therefore be misleading to claim that a particular percentage of applicants fail to secure an apprenticeship.

What we do know is that the Government has recognised difficulties within the system. In 2023, the National Apprenticeship Office introduced a priority plan aimed at expanding apprenticeship capacity and reducing waiting times for training.

The number of craft apprentices waiting six months or longer for their next phase of off the job training subsequently fell by 79%, from 5,319 in October 2023 to 1,140 in February 2025.

But that is a different problem from finding an employer in the first place.

For a young person contacting company after company looking for their first opportunity, the difficulty can come before they even become an apprentice.

The pay can be difficult to live on

Even after finding an employer, there is another major issue, pay.

Under the current Construction Sector Employment Order, the minimum rate for a first year construction apprentice is €7.91 an hour from 1 August 2026.

That rises to €11.87 an hour in year two, €17.81 in year three and €21.37 in year four. A qualified craftsperson covered by the order has a minimum rate of €23.74 an hour.

The construction sector's normal working week is 39 hours. At €7.91 an hour, a first year apprentice working 39 hours would earn approximately €308.49 gross per week, before tax and other deductions. Over 52 weeks, that would be around €16,041 gross.

That is where the attraction of the trades can become complicated. The eventual earning potential can be considerably better, but an apprentice has to make it through the lower paid years first.

Apprentices are excluded from the National Minimum Wage

The figures become even more striking when compared with Ireland's national minimum wage.

From January 2026, the national minimum wage for workers aged 20 and over is €14.15 an hour. However, craft apprentices are specifically excluded from the National Minimum Wage legislation.

That means a first year construction apprentice can legally earn €7.91 an hour, despite being an employee working towards a recognised skilled trade.

The €7.91 rate is approximately 44% lower than the €14.15 national minimum wage for an adult employee.

It is important to note that employers can pay apprentices more than the statutory minimum. The construction sector rates are minimum rates, not necessarily what every apprentice receives.

The pay does eventually improve

Calling tradespeople "badly paid" across the board would also be misleading. The biggest issue is the early stage of the apprenticeship.

The construction rates increase substantially as an apprentice progresses. By the fourth year, the statutory minimum is €21.37 an hour, while the minimum craftsperson rate is €23.74.

Overtime can also be paid at higher rates, with the construction sector order setting enhanced rates for certain overtime, Sundays and public holidays.

There is therefore a significant difference between saying "trades are badly paid" and saying "the early years of an apprenticeship can be badly paid."

The latter is much easier to support with the figures.

Apprenticeships are still producing strong outcomes

Despite the problems, the evidence does not suggest that apprenticeships are failing.

The National Survey of Apprentices 2024 to 2025 received responses from more than 5,500 apprentices. 80% said they would recommend an apprenticeship to family or friends, while 94% said their apprenticeship gave them good employment opportunities.

Overall satisfaction was rated at 7.5 out of 10.

Those figures suggest that once someone is actually in an apprenticeship, the experience can be very positive.

That is an important distinction.

The question may not be whether apprenticeships work.

It may be how easy it is to get through the door in the first place.

A growing system with growing demand

The apprenticeship system itself has expanded significantly.

There were 6,177 new registrations in 2019. By 2024, that figure had increased to 9,352, representing a 51% increase. Craft apprenticeship registrations also increased from 5,271 in 2019 to 7,113 in 2024.

There are now dozens of apprenticeship programmes covering everything from traditional construction trades to newer areas of the economy.

The Government has also invested heavily in expanding training capacity. Additional funding in 2024 and 2025 brought the total current apprenticeship budget to €339 million, while craft training places in Education and Training Boards increased by 43% to around 8,000 in 2025.

So the system is getting bigger.

But bigger does not necessarily mean easier for an individual looking for their first employer.

So why are first year places so difficult to find?

This is perhaps the biggest unanswered question.

There is no single national explanation for why an individual applicant might struggle to find an employer.

For a small plumbing company, taking on a first year apprentice can mean committing time to training someone who has little or no experience. Larger companies may have more capacity to train apprentices, while smaller employers may have fewer resources or less work available.

Location can also matter.

Someone looking for a plumbing apprenticeship may find that the available employers are several towns away. For a young person without a driving licence or access to a car, travelling to different construction sites can make the search even harder.

And while Ireland needs more skilled workers in the long term, an individual employer still has to decide whether they can take on an apprentice right now.

That gap between the country's long term need for tradespeople and the availability of first year positions is one of the most important questions for the apprenticeship system.

Is an apprenticeship still worth it?

For someone considering a trade, the answer is probably still yes.

The evidence shows that apprenticeships can lead to strong employment opportunities, while Ireland has a clear need for more skilled workers.

Plumbing in particular remains a trade where demand is expected to stay strong, with SOLAS identifying plumbers among occupations facing potential future skills shortages.

But that does not mean the journey is easy.

A person considering an apprenticeship needs to look beyond the eventual salary and consider the years it takes to qualify, the starting wage, travel costs and the difficulty of finding an employer willing to give them their first opportunity.

For someone living independently, €7.91 an hour can be extremely difficult to live on. For someone living with their parents, it may be more manageable.

That difference can influence who is actually able to enter the trades.

Ireland needs to make the first step easier

Ireland has spent years encouraging young people to consider apprenticeships as an alternative to traditional education.

The numbers show that the message is getting through. More people are registering, more programmes are available and more money is being invested in training.

But if Ireland genuinely needs tens of thousands of additional construction workers, simply encouraging young people to apply is not enough.

There also needs to be a realistic pathway from wanting an apprenticeship to actually getting one.

For someone who wants to become a plumber, the dream can be straightforward: learn a trade, get qualified, build experience and earn a good living.

The difficult part can be getting that first chance.

And for a first year apprentice earning €7.91 an hour, the question is not just whether the trade will eventually pay well.

It is whether they can afford to get there.