> The apprentices that sign up for this gain real world experience that’s hard to come by locally and get paid for it.
It has a great potential for widening the social divide. Here in the UK it is illegal to hire an apprentice without at least paying them a minimum wage. The reason is that before the change, the apprenticeships were snapped up by people from wealthy background who could afford to work for "experience" or "exposure". This created a bubble, where at certain jobs you wouldn't see anyone from disadvantaged background working there, because those people had to take on jobs that weren't aligned with their interests, simply because they were poor and couldn't afford an apprenticeship.
Now, the minimum wage thing is still not ideal, because in certain areas that's not enough, especially where you have a large family to support, but it is better than nothing.
It has a great potential for widening the social divide. Here in the UK it is illegal to hire an apprentice without at least paying them a minimum wage. The reason is that before the change, the apprenticeships were snapped up by people from wealthy background who could afford to work for "experience" or "exposure". This created a bubble, where at certain jobs you wouldn't see anyone from disadvantaged background working there, because those people had to take on jobs that weren't aligned with their interests, simply because they were poor and couldn't afford an apprenticeship. Now, the minimum wage thing is still not ideal, because in certain areas that's not enough, especially where you have a large family to support, but it is better than nothing.