More apprentices finish training but rates vary by occupation

27 September 2007

New statistics summarising 2006 Australian apprentice and trainee activity show that, as the number of people starting an apprenticeship or traineeship continues to grow, so does the number of people completing them.

In the last year, the number of people completing their training increased by around 5000.

For the first time, the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) has included data relating to completion rates in the apprentice and trainee statistics publications.

It shows that, for those who commenced an apprenticeship or traineeship during 2001, completion rates vary from 34.3% to 70.9%, according to the occupation.

"Food trade occupations (such as chefs, bakers and food production workers) and hairdressing have the lowest completion rates, at 34.3% and 41.2% respectively," says NCVER Managing Director, Dr Tom Karmel.

"This may be due to the fact that such occupations often have high staff turnover," he says.

"The highest rate of completion among trades occupations is 64.3% for metal trades," Karmel says.

The data also show that completion times are coming down. For trade apprentices (Certificate III and higher) in 1996, over 70% took more than 3 years to complete. This has fallen to around 55% in 2006.

NCVER has also released figures estimating apprentice and trainee activity for the quarter ending 31 March 2007. The number of apprentices and trainees in training increased by 0.7% to 414 400 from the same time in the previous year. The number of people commencing an apprenticeship or traineeship increased by 0.3% to 268 400.

ENDS

Australian vocational education and training statistics: Apprentices and trainees 2006 - Summary and Australian vocational education and training statistics: Apprentices and trainees March quarter 2007 - Summary have been produced by NCVER as a joint initiative of the Australian Government and state and territory governments, with funding provided through the Department of Education, Science and Training.

Copies can be accessed from 9.30am AEST today at http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/1824.html and http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/1829.html respectively.

Media enquiries to: Amy Mellow, Marketing Officer, or Colleen Young, Manager, Marketing Services on +61 8 82308400.