Employers looking to hire apprentices but male preference persists

As the apprenticeship market looks up, around 41% of employers are keen on hiring apprentices. However, employers continue to prefer male candidates (41%) over female candidates (28%). The remaining 31% have no gender preferences.

The number of employers who have expressed interest in hiring apprentices has increased by 8 percentage points this half-year compared to the previous half-year (33%), according to an Apprenticeship Outlook Report by NETAP [National Employability through Apprenticeship Program] from TeamLease Skills University.

The preference for female candidates, although less as compared to male candidates, has increased by 10% YoY, according to the report findings.

“This preference is more pronounced in the agriculture sector where the preference for female candidates has doubled to 40% YoY. The manufacturing industry (58%) continues to be a male dominant industry,” it says.

In terms of the situation across the country, Lucknow leads with a maximum preference for male candidates at 61% followed by Chandigarh (59%), Pune (58%), and Indore (55%). While Chennai (44%) and Hyderabad (41%) have emerged as leaders with no gender preference, Bangalore (37%), Mumbai and Kolkata (35%) are more female-centric.

The male dominance is there in apprenticeships as well as in the case of the labour market, however, year on year there is an increment by a per cent of women apprentice engagement, says Sumit Kumar, vice president, NETAP at TeamLease Skills University. “The reasons are changing, as the earlier thought process was to have diversity at the workplace but now the case is to go local, upskill the local women population enhance their employability who can then join the organisation as employees.”