Having dealt with dozens of apprentices until recently, I can safely say there's plenty of young people out there interested in doing apprenticeships.
What the issue with NoFM2Rs tradesmen listed is they are one man bands not really clued into the way their target audience sees and is influenced by. For big companies it's fine they can afford the every increasingly sophisticated ways to appeal to people to get their apprenticeships. Naturally one man bands simply don't have this ability or knowledge, what is needed is a way to match people wanting workers to those future employees.
Overall plenty of people have started apprenticeships in the UK in the past couple of years, I know that a number of these are apprenticeships in name only just to claim the gov grants. Still the numbers are pretty good. And there's success stories out there, iirc at the last world apprentice competition the UK did very well.
So yes there is a shortage in traditional building trades but they need to do more collectively, be it a finder service, apps, a visible presense on SM etc. To coin a phrase people can't be what they can't see, if you're after young people and not on SM you may as well be on the far side of the moon.
They are there, both groups need to be matched up much better.
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