The UK’s most popular apprenticeships

• Business, Administration and Law is the most popular subject for apprenticeships
• Health, Public Services and Care take second, with Engineering and Manufacturing taking third
• Retail and IT also make the top 10

Business, Administration and Law is the most popular subject for apprenticeships, new research has found.

A study by marketing agency School of Marketing studied 2021/2022 ONS data to see the most popular apprenticeships from the past academic year.

The study found that Business, Administration and Law was the most popular, with more than 32,800 apprentices starting in the industry the past academic year. This was an increase of more than 5,000 following the previous academic year. 2021/22 saw more than 130,000 apprentices start in total, with Business taking up a large portion.

Health, Public Services and Care comes in a close second, with more than 30,400 new apprentices starting last year in the field. Again, this number is a significant increase, with more than 6,000 extra starts compared to the previous year. The NHS’ apprenticeships programme is currently one of the largest in the apprenticeships industry, with the 2020/21 financial year seeing the programme recruit more than 37,000 apprentices across many subjects.

Engineering and Manufacturing comes in third, with 22,100 new apprentices starting in the industry last year. These numbers are nearly double 20/21’s starts of 11,800. Programmes exist in many different areas, including aerospace, transport, marine engineering, and telecommunications.

Retail and Commercial apprenticeships come in fifth place, with 12,900 new apprentices starting last year. The industry has also seen an increase with nearly 5,000 new starts compared to the 2020/21 academic year.

Information and Communication Technology comes in sixth place, with 7,600 new starts in the 2021/22 academic year. These numbers are over 1,000 higher than the 2019/20 academic year and a further increase of 2,000 from the 2020/21 year.

Commenting on the findings, a spokesperson from School of Marketing said: “With a large variety of industries now offering apprenticeship programmes, it’s interesting to see an increase in new apprentices across the board. With many people choosing to wait to start their programme due to effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, we can expect national apprenticeship starts to increase over the next few years.”

The study was conducted by the School of Marketing, which offers world-leading digital marketing apprenticeships in more than 20 countries, serving more than 4,000 learners worldwide.

Further information can be found at School of Marketing who commissioned the data