Routledge Dictionary of Economics, Second Edition
A period of training in a firm which enables a trainee to learn a craft under the supervision of a skilled worker. The length of the apprenticeship varies from trade to trade and country to country.
Adam SMITH noted that in ancient times the period was commonly seven years, even in universities for studying for a Master of Arts degree. Apprenticeships have long provided technological education and transmitted sophisticated manual skills from one generation to another. But critics have viewed them as a union restrictive practice for they have been used to limit the number in a trade, and hence to increase average earnings. Recurrent skilled labour shortages in engineering have been attributed to the system.
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