Annual analysis of Higher & Degree Apprenticeships in Wales

Reflections on the past 12 months

This is my third report on Wales and it now covers a period of one whole year. Hence, I think my cumulative data is starting to paint a reasonably interesting picture of the occupational and regional spread of vacancies across the country. On the other hand, I’m also aware that there’s lots of room for improvement and I intend to widen my research as I continue with the project in the year ahead.

At best, vacancies in the past quarter have come in a steady trickle rather than a flood and there hasn’t been a lot of significant new development on which to report. Compared with my searches for England and Scotland, I’ve also found it a little more difficult to source accurate, reliable and comprehensive information and data for Wales. However, I’ve got some Welsh blood in me and I love to explore what’s going on there, so the challenge of building on this for a further year is irresistible. I would also welcome, and will try to seek out, advice from fellow practitioners who actually work in Wales.

Personally I find the regional data just as interesting as the occupational data, and I especially enjoy building up a picture of how it looks when the data’s broken down by county borough. I’m also checking out ways of collaborating on creating some graphic representation of the data and will share this through my social media channels if it happens.

My reports always come with a featured image, usually from my own photo collection. The theme on this occasion isn’t particularly significant, I just love the setting which I captured during a delightful long weekend in the Swansea area a few years ago. I’ve already got another photo lined up for my next post too, with a North Wales theme.

Background

I originally started recording post-18 apprenticeships vacancies, but only in England, when the country first locked down during the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. That summer I began publishing weekly statistical updates and have been doing so consistently ever since. Then on 1^st June 2022 I also started recording vacancies in the other three home nations with a view to reporting on them too once I’d collated enough useful data.

For Wales I keep a record of all new DA and HA vacancies that I spot in my regular searches of relevant websites, and in doing so I’ve started to build up an evolving occupational and regional analysis. I only include vacancies that an 18/19-year old could reasonably apply for, either in the year they leave school or college or after gaining a few months’ experience.

I should emphasise that my data will never be fully reliable for a variety of reasons. In particular some positions will have multiple vacancies but, more often than not, the precise number isn’t made clear. Hence, where necessary I’ve made educated and conservative estimates of numbers. I’ve also learned over the past three years that when a vacancy posting does state the number of multiple vacancies it can sometimes be misleading, so I always treat such information in a cautious way.

Headline data

In the 12-month period from 1^st June 2022 to 31^st May 2023 I recorded:

79 new Degree Apprenticeship vacancies (Levels 6/7) and
142 new Higher Apprenticeship vacancies (Levels 4/5)
giving a total of 221
of which 4 required applicants to be fluent Welsh speakers

Analysis by occupation

I’ve broken the new vacancies down into what I loosely define as ‘occupational areas’, which in some cases differ from official terminology. Since 1^st June 2022 the complete list of occupational areas represented is given below. In my view, this provides an interesting insight into what the emerging occupations are in a changing career landscape.

Degree Apprenticeships (Levels 6/7):

In total I’ve recorded 79 new vacancies spread across 22 occupational areas and minimum starting salaries have ranged from £9,380 to £24,836, with the average being around £20,000. The occupational breakdown is as follows:

13 Software Engineers/Developers

9 Digital Technology Solutions (general)

8 Data Scientists

7 Accountants & Audit Professionals

6 Manufacturing & Production Engineers

6 Tax Professionals

4 Electrical & Electronic Engineers

3 Cyber Security Professionals

3 Design & Development Engineers

3 Professional Economists

2 Aerospace Engineers

2 Business Managers

2 Civil Engineers

2 Ordnance Munitions & Explosives Specialists

2 Retail Leaders

1 Construction Manager

1 Digital User Experience (UX) Designer

1 Food Manufacturing Manager

1 Media Systems Engineer

1 Optical Calibration Engineer

1 Quantity Surveyor

1 Transport Planner

Higher Apprenticeships (Levels 4/5):

In total I’ve recorded 142 new vacancies spread across 36 occupational areas and minimum starting salaries have ranged from £9,380 to a whopping £31,393, with the average being around £16,000. The occupational breakdown is as follows:

27 Civil Engineering Technicians

14 Accounting Technicians

12 Electrical & Electronic Engineering Technicians

10 Data Analysts

10 Project Management Associates

9 Manufacturing Engineering Technicians

9 Quantity Surveying Technicians

6 Junior Animators

4 Technician Scientists

3 Junior Management Consultants

3 Materials Technicians

3 Software Developers

2 Business Administrators

2 Digital News Journalists

2 Health & Safety Practitioners

2 Hospitality Managers

2 IT Business Specialists

2 Retail Managers

2 Supply Chain Specialists

2 Welsh Language Translators

1 Armourer

1 Broadcasting Technical Operator

1 Building Physics Technician

1 Building Services Engineering Technician

1 Business Analyst

1 Cardiac Physiology Technician

1 Construction Site Engineering Technician

1 Digital Marketing Executive

1 Electro-Mechanical Engineering Technician

1 Environmental Technician

1 Facilities Manager

1 ICT Engineer

1 Media Production Co-ordinator

1 Radio & Television Journalist

1 Railway Engineering Technician

1 Regulatory Compliance Officer

Analysis by town/city and region

To give a sense of the locations and regional spread of these vacancies, I’ve broken the 221 vacancies down in two ways: a) by town/city and b) by county borough, which is how Wales is divided up administratively.

Breakdown by town/city (with county borough in brackets)

68 Cardiff (Cardiff)
18 Port Talbot (Neath Port Talbot)
14 Newport (Newport)
13 Broughton (Flintshire)
11 Swansea (Swansea)
10 Glascoed (Monmouthshire)
7 Llanwern (Newport)
6 Bridgend (Bridgend)
4 Caernarfon (Gwynedd)
4 Pontypridd (Rhondda Cynon Taf)
3 Brecon (Powys)
3 Llanelli (Carmarthenshire)
3 Miskin (Rhondda Cynon Taf)
2 Aberporth (Ceredigion)
2 Carmarthen (Carmarthenshire)
2 Deeside Industrial Park (Flintshire)
2 Llandudno Junction (Conwy)
2 St Asaph (Denbighshire)
2 Shotton (Flintshire)
2 Wrexham (Wrexham)
1 Abercynon (Rhondda Cynon Taf)
1 Abergele (Conwy)
1 Bangor (Gwynedd)
1 Church Village (Rhondda Cynon Taf)
1 Connah’s Quay (Flintshire)
1 Conwy (Conwy)
1 Cwmbran (Torfaen)
1 Haverfordwest (Pembrokeshire)
1 Hengoed (Caerphilly)
1 Nantgarw (Rhonnda Cynon Taf)
1 Pendine (Carmarthenshire)
1 Pontllanfraith (Caerphilly)
1 Rhyl (Denbighshire)
1 Tondu (Bridgend)
1 Tylerstown (Rhondda Cynon Taf)
1 Remote-working
27 Unspecified across Wales

Breakdown by region (county boroughs)

68 Cardiff
21 Newport
18 Flintshire
18 Neath Port Talbot
11 Rhondda Cynon Taf
11 Swansea
10 Monmouthshire
7 Bridgend
6 Carmarthenshire
5 Gwynedd
4 Conwy
3 Denbighshire
3 Powys
2 Caerphilly
2 Ceredigion
2 Wrexham
1 Pembrokeshire
1 Torfaen
1 Remote-working
0 Blaenau Gwent
0 Isle of Anglesey
0 Merthyr Tydfil
0 Vale of Glamorgan
27 Unspecified across Wales

I’m secretly willing the four county boroughs with no vacancies to get on the scoresheet soon, besides which they may well feature amongst those vacancies with an ‘Unspecified’ location.

Going forward

In conclusion, whilst the above data is not as thorough and reliable as I would like it to be, I do think it provides a useful starting point and a platform on which to build a bigger picture. I’ve enjoyed creating it too and, all being well, I hope to publish updates on at least a quarterly or half-yearly basis.

https://alanbullockcareers.com