Recent data released by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) revealed that traineeship and apprenticeship commencements have fallen by more than 45% over the past four years, with apprenticeship commencements declining by 10.1% in just the 12 months to March (see below chart).
Apprenticeship completions have also fallen heavily, down by 24.0% in the 12 months to March.
The falls in apprenticeship numbers have been broad-based, although they are heaviest in New South Wales and Victoria (see below table).
Meanwhile, the Department of Employment’s latest skills shortages report showed that “skills shortages” are far more widespread for technicians and tradespeople:
Because they are experiencing relatively few commencements and completions:
By contrast, the economy is awash with university students, with nearly 730,000 enrolled in a bachelor degree:
Despite graduate employment outcomes falling to “historically low levels”:
Today, NSW’s peak business group has called for fundamental reform of the apprenticeships system, arguing that year 12 students should be given the opportunity to complete an apprenticeship and the Higher School Certificate at TAFE. From The Age:
“Our apprenticeship system is in crisis. The flow of young, job ready, skilled workers is at a drip when we need it to be a flood,” said NSW Business Chamber chief executive, Stephen Cartwright…
A new report to be released on Wednesday has found Australia’s apprenticeship scheme is broken and in urgent need of revival to meet growing demand for skills while NSW delivers massive infrastructure projects.
The new report: Laying the Foundations for Apprenticeship Reform by an architect of tertiary education reform, Professor Peter Noonan from Victoria University’s Mitchell Institute, calls for a national industry-led careers advice service and a taskforce to deliver reform across the country…
The NSW Business Chamber is proposing a new apprenticeship model involving an initial period of general industry training. This would include a year of general industry training before moving to a specialisation, “much like the model for undergraduate degrees at university”. It also recommends white-collar scholarships that provide a higher level of skills…
“We are calling on the NSW and federal governments to work together to redesign incentives so that they better support apprentices over the critical first six to 12 months of their training,” Mr Cartwright said.
One of the biggest mistakes Australia ever made on the education front was to gradually close secondary technical schools between the 1970s and 1990s, in the false belief that it is more desirable for young people to go to university.
Apprenticeship are a key pathway to employment for Australia’s youth. By slashing their numbers, Australia is directly limiting youth employment opportunities, forcing many instead into insecure and low-paying “Mc Jobs” in the services industry.
Increasing apprenticeship numbers must be a focus of the Federal Government.
