DOZENS of apprentices are being recruited by Clyde shipbuilder BAE Systems despite the loss of 800 jobs and the likely closure of the Govan yard.

The defence contractor is to recruit 50 trainee tradesmen and women as well as eight trainee engineering technicians and applications must be lodged by the end of the week.

The recruitment drive ­follows the controversial ­decision to axe 800 jobs after work ended on the construction of giant steel blocks for the new super-sized ­aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth.

There are currently 3000 workers spread across BAE's Scotstoun and Govan yards.

Trainees are also being hired amid growing speculation that the Govan complex will be shutdown in 2017 in favour of a £200million "frigade factory" being built at the Scotstoun site.

However, BAE is one of Scotland's biggest recruiters and has hired hundreds of trainees over the years from school leavers to workers wanting a change in career.

Bosses want to maintain a diverse and sustainable workforce for the future and plan to take on 58 apprentices this year at a time when the shipbuilder hopes to win a contract worth hundreds of millions of pounds from the Ministry of Defence to build a fleet of Type 26s - a new class of frigate to ­replace the ageing Type 23s.

A BAE spokesman said: "They will all receive a combination of college-based learning and on-site training to learn about the design, build and delivery of complex warships."

The craft apprenticeship programme covers trades from pipe work to welding and lasts three years while trainee technicians will undergo a four-year apprenticeship.

But applications must be lodged by Friday and can be uplooaded online at www.baesystems.com/apprentices.

gordon.thomson@eveningtimes.co.uk