More apprentices finish training but rates vary by occupation

More Australians are starting and finishing apprenticeships or traineeships than a decade ago.This is according to recently released NCVER statistics.

In 2006, 266 100 people started an apprenticeship or traineeship and 141 500 completed one. This compares with 89 800 people starting and 36 500 finishing ten years ago. A major driver of this increase is the expansion of the apprenticeship and traineeship model to a wider range of occupations.

The proportion of those who complete varies according to the type of job. Looking at those who started in 2001, this is somewhere between one-third to just over two-thirds.

In the trades, food trade workers (chefs, bakers and food production) had the lowest proportion completing at 34.3%, followed by hairdressers at 41.2%. Of all the trades, those in mechanical and fabrication engineering had the highest proportion completing at 64.3%.

The time taken to complete a trade apprenticeship has also fallen. In 2006, around 55% of trade apprentices (certificate III and higher) took more than three years to finish, compared with just over 70% in 1996.

Overall, in the last decade the proportion of Australian workers employed as an apprentice or trainee has doubled to 3.8%. This is known as the training rate.

Young people have the highest training rates, with 17.8% of all employed 15 to 19-year-olds working as an apprentice or trainee. The rate is very high for young people working in trade jobs—around four in five males and seven in ten females.