Apprenticeship starts

Published 18 May 2023

Contents

1. Main facts and figures

• in the 10 years to July 2021, the percentage of apprenticeships started by people from Asian, black, mixed and ‘other’ ethnic backgrounds went up from 10.0% to 14.3%
• the total number of apprenticeships started went down from 520,580 to 321,440 (a 38% decrease)
• the number of apprenticeships started by people from ethnic minority backgrounds (excluding white minorities) went down from 51,350 to 44,850 (a 13% decrease)
• in the year ending July 2021, white people made up 85.7% of apprenticeship starts and 81.0% of the general population in England (based on data from the 2021 Census)

2. Things you need to know

What the data measures

The data shows the number of people who started an apprenticeship in a given academic year (1 August to 31 July), and their ethnicity.

The data only includes people funded by the government.

Participant numbers are rounded to the nearest 10. Percentages have been rounded to 1 decimal place.

Not included in the data

Numbers less than 5 have not been included in the data. This is to protect people’s confidentiality and because the numbers involved are too small to make reliable generalisations.

The ethnic groups used in the data

Data is shown for 5 aggregated ethnic groups:

• Asian
• black
• mixed
• white
• other

This means estimates are shown for these groups as a whole. This is because the number of people in apprenticeships was too small to make any reliable conclusions about any of the 19 ethnic groups used in the 2021 Census. The data does not include people whose ethnicity was not known. This was 2.3% of apprenticeship starts in the academic year ending July 2021.

Methodology

Read the detailed methodology document for this data on this page.

Someone studying more than one apprenticeship course with a single provider in an academic year is counted once. Someone studying with more than one provider is counted more than once.

3. By ethnicity over time

• Location: England
• Time period: August 2011 to July 2021
• Source: Apprenticeships and traineeships data

Percentage and number of apprenticeship starts by ethnicity over time

	All		Asian		Black		Mixed		White		Other		Unknown
Year	All %	All Starts	Asian %	Asian Starts	Black %	Black Starts	Mixed %	Mixed Starts	White %	White Starts	Other %	Other Starts	Unknown %	Unknown Starts
2002/03	100.0	167,690	2.1	3,510	1.5	2,560	1.1	1,770	94.6	157,270	0.6	1,060	N/A*	1,520
2003/04	100.0	193,560	2.2	4,210	1.5	2,820	1.2	2,260	94.8	182,140	0.3	670	N/A*	1,460
2004/05	100.0	189,030	2.5	4,660	1.6	2,920	1.3	2,460	94.2	176,450	0.4	820	N/A*	1,720
2005/06	100.0	174,970	2.4	4,100	1.4	2,350	1.3	2,310	94.5	164,120	0.4	750	N/A*	1,340
2006/07	100.0	184,430	2.6	4,680	1.3	2,430	1.5	2,660	94.3	172,470	0.4	750	N/A*	1,440
2007/08	100.0	224,770	2.9	6,500	1.6	3,600	1.4	3,150	93.6	208,230	0.4	1,000	N/A*	2,290
2008/09	100.0	239,960	4.0	9,450	2.2	5,110	1.6	3,840	91.7	217,890	0.5	1,220	N/A*	2,450
2009/10	100.0	279,670	3.4	9,390	2.3	6,390	1.8	5,020	92.0	254,780	0.5	1,430	N/A*	2,660
2010/11	100.0	457,210	4.3	19,270	3.2	14,610	1.8	8,290	89.9	407,050	0.8	3,440	N/A*	4,550
2011/12	100.0	520,580	4.0	20,720	3.4	17,350	1.9	9,850	90.1	464,960	0.7	3,430	N/A*	4,270
2012/13	100.0	510,220	3.9	19,690	3.3	16,590	2.0	10,110	90.1	455,440	0.7	3,380	N/A*	5,010
2013/14	100.0	440,420	4.3	18,600	3.1	13,650	2.2	9,470	89.7	391,480	0.7	3,110	N/A*	4,110
2014/15	100.0	499,910	4.3	21,510	3.5	17,250	2.2	10,930	89.3	442,340	0.7	3,500	N/A*	4,380
2015/16	100.0	509,370	4.3	21,380	3.5	17,500	2.2	11,100	89.4	448,830	0.7	3,500	N/A*	7,060
2016/17	100.0	494,890	4.5	22,010	3.7	18,080	2.3	11,020	88.7	434,220	0.9	4,200	N/A*	5,360
2017/18	100.0	375,770	4.7	17,430	3.3	12,340	2.5	9,390	88.6	327,720	0.8	3,070	N/A*	5,820
2018/19	100.0	393,380	5.5	21,370	3.5	13,510	2.7	10,520	87.5	338,330	0.8	2,990	N/A*	6,660
2019/20	100.0	322,530	5.8	18,250	3.9	12,240	2.7	8,680	86.7	273,980	0.9	2,970	N/A*	6,410
2020/21	100.0	321,450	6.1	19,280	4.2	13,200	3.0	9,520	85.7	269,170	0.9	2,850	N/A*	7,430

^* Not applicable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Apprenticeship starts By ethnicity over time Summary

The data shows that:

• in the 10 years to July 2021, the number of apprenticeships started by Asian people went down from 20,720 to 19,280
• the number started by people with mixed ethnicity went down from 9,850 to 9,520
• the number started by black people went down from 17,350 to 13,200
• the number started by white people went down from 464,960 to 269,170
• in the year ending July 2021, 85.7% of apprenticeships were started by white people, compared with 86.7% the year before
• 6.1% of apprenticeships were started by Asian people in the year ending July 2021, compared with 5.8% the year before

4. By ethnicity compared with the overall population

• Location: England
• Time period: 2020 to 2021 academic year
• Source: Apprenticeships and traineeships data

Percentage of apprenticeship starts, and percentage of the overall population, by ethnicity

	Apprenticeship Starts		Population (2021 Census)
Ethnicity	Apprenticeship Starts %	Apprenticeship Starts Number	Population (2021 Census) %	Population (2021 Census) Number
All	100.0	321,450	100.0	59,597,542
Asian	6.1	19,280	9.6	5,515,420
Black	4.2	13,200	4.2	2,409,278
Mixed	3.0	9,520	3.0	1,717,976
White	85.7	269,170	81.0	48,699,249
Other	0.9	2,850	2.2	1,255,619
Unknown	N/A*	7,430	N/A*	N/A*

^* Not applicable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Apprenticeship starts By ethnicity compared with the overall population Summary

The data shows that, in the year ending July 2021:

• white people made up 85.7% of apprenticeship starts and 81.0% of the overall population in England (based on data from the 2021 Census)
• Asian people made up 6.1% of apprenticeship starts and 9.6% of the overall population
• black people made up 4.2% of apprenticeship starts and 4.2% of the overall population

5. Data sources

Source

Apprenticeships and traineeships data

Type of data

Administrative data

Type of statistic

National Statistics

Publisher

Department for Education

Publication frequency

Yearly

Purpose of data source

The Education and Skills Funding Agency uses data about learners' demographics and their type of learning to allocate funding. Apprenticeships and apprenticeship aims are included in this data.

Secondary source

Ethnic group, national identity, language, and religion: Census 2021 in England and Wales

Type of data

Survey data

Type of statistic

Official statistics

Publisher

Office for National Statistics

Publication frequency

Ad-hoc

Purpose of data source

The Census takes place every 10 years. Census data gives the government the information it needs to plan and run public services. It is also used as a benchmark for other statistical estimates, and can help illustrate differences between various groups in the population.

6. Download the data

apprenticeship starts data 2022 - Spreadsheet (csv) 23 KB

This file contains the following: measure, ethnicity, ethnicity_type, time, time_type, geography, geography_code, geography type, gender, age bracket, age bracket type, denominator, numerator, value

Publication release date: 18 May 2023

full page history

1. 18 May 2023 Updated with the latest available data.

From: Department for Education

Previous editions:

1. 2 October 2020
2. 14 May 2019
3. 3 October 2018
4. 1 March 2018

---

Share this page

Twitter Facebook LinkedIn