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Do your kids like the idea of earning money straight out of school, and earning $80–90k before they’re 30?
Were they the Lego kid? The one who dismantled the toaster just to see what was inside? Always inventing things? Good at maths? Happy to get their hands dirty?
Do you think they should go to university? Because of course you do. Somewhere along the way we’ve decided university is the default setting for bright kids, and trades are what happens if Plan A doesn’t work out.
We have been advertising for experienced precision CNC machinists for the last three months. I have been unable to hire a single qualified resident or citizen and am now in the process of recruiting two new staff from the Philippines and France.
This isn’t a United Machinists problem. It’s a national one.
According to the 2018 census, 32% of New Zealand’s engineering machinists were already over 55. The pipeline to replace them has been shrinking, and fitter/turner and machinist roles remain on Immigration New Zealand’s skill shortage list. We are actively importing the workforce we failed to train.
At the same time, university entrance is at an all-time high. Total tertiary enrolments across all providers hit 456,000 in 2011 and have remained above 395,000.
Yet youth unemployment has climbed back to 14.3%, its highest level since the post-GFC years.
New Zealand has one of the highest qualification mismatch rates in the OECD and the worst brain drain. We educate people, then wave goodbye as they head overseas.
We are producing the wrong skills, in the wrong quantities, for the wrong industries.
We attended the Careers Expo recently at the Edgar Centre, exhibiting alongside Scott Technology, Farra Engineering and Todd Engineering, some of Dunedin’s finest manufacturers. I did the evening shift.
Some parents gave our stand such a wide berth you’d think apprenticeships were contagious. The majority of those who did stop by physically recoiled at the idea of a trade.
I don’t blame them. I only want the very best for my son too. If you’ve been conditioned to believe a trade pathway is somehow ‘‘less than’’, of course you’d steer your kids elsewhere.
But let’s unpack that. Because it’s not a ‘‘less than’’ problem. It’s a perception problem. And perception can be changed with facts.
A mechanical engineering apprentice completes their qualification in around four years while getting paid. No student debt.
By year 10, a qualified CNC machinist or fitter/turner working in advanced manufacturing is typically earning $80–90k. A manufacturing or engineering manager in the advanced sector can expect median earnings of around $125,000.
Critically, trade graduates actually work in their field. Around 80% of mechanical engineering trade graduates end up working in trade or related manufacturing roles.
The apprenticeship model works because you need an employer to start, and that employer is invested in your success from day one.
Rocket Lab. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare. Scott Technology. Douglas Pharmaceuticals. Hamilton Jet. Dawn Aerospace. Taska Prosthetics. These aren’t relics from the 1950s making widgets in a shed. They are world-class technology companies doing work that genuinely changes lives, and they all need skilled tradespeople.
Depressingly, most of the students I meet have never heard of them.
When I visit schools, you’d be amazed how many kids I speak to want careers in media and communications because they outright say they want to be social media influencers. How are we not teaching kids about New Zealand’s first Nasdaq-listed space company? Or a Wellington startup pursuing fusion energy? Or a company making super-sonic sub-orbital space planes?
This feels like a disservice to our young people. New Zealand has one of the lowest rates of engineering graduates in the OECD, yet we constantly talk about our productivity problem.
It turns out countries that make things need people who know how to make things.
Starkly, our schools have the challenge that they are funded for each year a high school student is enrolled. So for every year a student leaves early to pursue vocational education, such as an apprenticeship, the schools actually lose funding.
Furthermore, we continue to rank schools based on their University Entrance rates — it’s not a case of not enough incentive, schools are actually penalised for putting kids into trades.
I’m certainly not suggesting schools are deliberately steering students away from trades. Most teachers and careers advisers genuinely want the best outcome for every young person.
But when incentives point one way and industry needs point another, it’s hardly surprising we end up with a skills mismatch.
Our first apprentice joined us straight out of school. He stayed for 11 years. By the time he left he had done further part-time education in advanced manufacturing and management, and was our manufacturing manager.
Today he’s an engineering manager for an aerospace company in Queensland, earning a salary most parents would be delighted with.
That’s not a failure of the trade pathway. That’s exactly what success looks like.
So here’s my challenge. Before you tell your teenager they should go to university, ask yourself a simple question: do you want them to follow the crowd, or do you want them to build the future?
We are planning an open day during the next school holidays, most likely in the second week. The first week I’ll be in Japan helping promote New Zealand’s advanced manufacturing capabilities in aerospace.
Such a boring industry. It’s not like the opportunities are out of this world.
If you’ve got teenagers, or know someone who does, come and see what a career in hi-tech precision manufacturing actually looks like. You might be surprised.
• Sarah Ramsay is chief executive of United Machinists.