Tertiary Education Minister Pete Hodgson said today that more than 15,000 Modern Apprentices are either in training or have completed their apprenticeships.

Pete Hodgson made the announcement while visiting Agricultural and Horticultural Modern Apprentices at Turanga Ararau, an Iwi based tertiary provider in Gisborne.

Turanga Ararau is a Modern Apprenticeships Co-ordinator, and is heavily involved in programmes connecting young people with further education and training.

�After breaking through the Labour-led government�s target of 14,000 Modern Apprentices in the last quarter, the numbers of young people in Modern Apprenticeships continued to rise in the December quarter,� Pete Hodgson said.

The December quarter statistics show a total of 15,051 Modern Apprentices, of whom 10,808 are still in training and 4,243 have successfully completed their apprenticeships. Of these, 15% were Maori and around 3% Pacific Peoples.

�These impressive figures illustrate just how successful the partnership between industry and the Labour-led government has been in rebuilding trade training in New Zealand, � Pete Hodgson said.

The Modern Apprentice scheme was introduced by the Labour-led government in 2000 to improve the participation of young people in trades training.

�New Zealand needs a highly skilled workforce and these numbers bode well for our economic future and our international competitiveness,�

Compared with the same quarter last year, the number of Modern Apprentices in training was up 14.2 percent.

�This Labour-led Government continues to strengthen the future of our young people through initiatives such as the Schools Plus and the Unified Skills Strategy. That�s why I�m pleased to visit Turanga Ararau�s Modern Apprentices, who are supporting New Zealand�s economic transformation.�