You would be hard pressed to find any Australian who doesn't know someone who has done an apprenticeship or traineeship. This form of structured workplace training has endured because it works: learn by doing, earn while learning, and develop real skills in real workplaces that translate into lifelong careers.
Employers value the system. More than 8 in 10 employers surveyed by Australian Industry Group identify apprentices and trainees as important or very important to their business.
There are also real benefits for individuals. When comparing all of the post-school pathways, by age 25, a person who has undertaken an apprenticeship or traineeship is most likely to be employed, is earning the most and has among the highest job satisfaction.
If Australia is serious about increasing housing supply, delivering major infrastructure, managing the energy transition and delivering high-quality services and local manufacturing, we cannot do it without a steady pipeline of skills.
We are being reminded again of the importance of strengthening Australia’s sovereign industrial capability in globally uncertain times. Sovereign capability can only be strengthened if we also strengthen the human capability that underpins it.
And that means we need a steady pipeline of apprentices and trainees commencing and completing training in the myriad of skilled occupations that are critical to Australia’s current and future skills needs. In recent years, this pipeline has been shrinking.
Today’s declining commencements are tomorrow’s severe skill shortages—that risk slowing projects, raising costs, and placing a further brake on productivity.
