Wages and employment as an apprentice
What you receive in apprentice pay — and what terms apply
Introduction
One of the big advantages of a vocational education is that you earn money while you learn. From the moment you have an apprenticeship and are in the main phase, you are employed at your workplace and receive apprentice pay. You are not paying for your training — you are being paid to be in training.
The wage rises during the course
Apprentice pay is stepped. When you are new, the rate is lowest, and it rises as you progress through the apprenticeship and become more valuable to the workplace. The logic is simple: the further you are, the more you can contribute, and the pay reflects that. The specific rates are set out in the collective agreement covering the area, and they are adjusted at regular intervals — ask your workplace or your trade union for the current figures.
The agreement sets the framework
Your terms as an apprentice and later as a journeyman are typically regulated by a collective agreement between employers and employees. The agreement describes, among other things, salary, working hours, allowances, holidays and pension. It is your safety net, because it ensures you are treated according to the agreements the parties on the labour market have made — instead of everything having to be negotiated from scratch each time.
- 01You get paid from when you start your apprenticeship — you do not pay for the training
- 02Pay rises stepwise through the course
- 03Rates and conditions follow the collective agreement in the field
- 04You are employed at the workplace and have a training agreement
- 05As a finished journeyman your wages are negotiated from the trade's level
The education agreement
When you get an apprenticeship you and the workplace enter a training agreement. It is a formal contract that binds you together in the apprenticeship and describes what you each commit to. It is this agreement that makes you an apprentice with wages and not just a student.
When you are trained
As a finished journeyman your wages are negotiated based on your trade your experience and what you can do. Maritime trades are niche and there are not many skilled people — that can be an advantage when you as an experienced skilled person negotiate wages and conditions. Many also end up specialising deeply or starting for themselves and then the economics look different again.
“You learn a craft and get paid for it from day one of your apprenticeship — that's the strong agreement of vocational education.”