With the labour market for the under-24s looking grim students are becoming more entrepreneurial and take up of apprenticeships has increased for both sexes.
Colleges are reporting a sudden upsurge in students signing up to learn how to be an electrician, decorator, mechanic or builder, and much of the increase seems to be down to female students. Far more women are now choosing to train in these trades, rejecting the more traditionally “female” roles of hairdresser, childminder, care worker or beautician.