The organisation responsible for training apprentices, BCITO, has a plan to reduce the gap between the numbers training and the jobs available.
The Government has promised a helping hand, but employers want it to go further.
They've been calling on the Government to help subsidise the wages of apprentices to tackle the huge shortage of experienced workers.
The Labour-led Government has confirmed it will stand by its policy to give employers a boost, but only under certain conditions.
The number of people in apprentice training is increasing faster than the jobs available .
The deal is they are hired for four years, but at the end of that time, they can leave or often they're poached by another employer.
Between June 2016 and June 2017, the number of apprentices increased by 1007, yet the number of employers only increased by 421.
"I still think there's a stigma in the industry where we pay for their apprenticeships and they up and go," said Hunt Construction owner Neil Hunt.
Auckland plumber Bruce Trenwith says it's a serious problem for all trades and needs to be addressed now.
"The person who ends up paying for the training of the apprentice is the employer and there are only a few opportunities that you find that you can actually charge for that apprentice, so just being able to cover that is huge."
BCITO has a 12-point proposal for the new Government. It includes support for employers, training support and other proposals that help make training easier for them.
Newshub.
