From the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) comes weak but lagging labour force data today:
This publication presents early estimates of apprentice and trainee commencements for the December quarter 2013. Indicative information about this quarter is presented here; the most recent figures are estimated, taking into account reporting lags that occur at the time of data collection.
The early trend estimates are derived from the National Apprentice and Trainee Collection no.78, December 2013. Data are only available for commencements at the national level and have been seasonally adjusted and smoothed. Further information at the disaggregated level for the December quarter 2013 will be released in early June 2014.
Early indications for the December 2013 quarter show that:
Trade commencements decreased from 27 500 in the September quarter to 26 400 in the December quarter following growth in the first three quarters of 2013.
Non-trade commencements decreased from 41 200 in the September quarter to 38 800 in the December quarter. This follows two quarters of growth after a period of decline from March 2012 to March 2013 (refer to the technical note for more information).
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific's leading geo-politics and economics portal.
He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.
