Semta, the sector skills council for science, engineering and advanced manufacturing, has released figures showing that apprenticeship starts in England have increased by more than 85% since 2010.
Most of those new starts have been at intermediate level, while there's been a smaller rise in the number of advanced and higher level apprenticeships.
In geographical order, the West Midlands have seen the highest rise of apprenticeship starts (227%), followed by the East Midlands (174%), the North East (133%) and Yorkshire and the Humber (109%).
Historically speaking, in 2009/10 16,760 apprentices entered the sector. That number rose to 22,300 in 2010/11, and in 2011/12 it rose again to 31,070.
Sarah Sillars, Semta Chief Executive, says: "These figures are extremely encouraging. These are real jobs, many paying well above the national average, with young people earning as they learn new skills.
"But we shouldn’t rest on our laurels. Engineering and manufacturing still has an image problem — we need more teachers and parents to understand apprenticeships will benefit their children and not somebody else’s.
"The sector needs to recruit 82,000 people just to cover retirements up to 2016 so there is a real opportunity for young people, so much more needs to be done to attract them into engineering and advanced manufacturing."
For the past year, Semta has been targeting engineering employers that have not taken on any apprentices - a percentage of over 80% to date.
"Companies", says Sillars, "need to understand that an apprentice may not always contribute towards a business in year one, but in years two, three and four they make a major contribution, becoming a valued, loyal employee, earning money and providing home-grown skills."
"We cannot stress enough how more work needs to be done to educate teachers, parents and even some employers."
