The latest release of national apprentice and trainee data show there were 35 945 trade and non-trade commencements in the December 2017 quarter, up 7.6% compared with the same quarter in 2016.
Apprentices and trainees 2017 – December quarter, published by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), provides a national picture of apprenticeship and traineeship activity and includes both quarterly and annual figures that can be broken down by state and territory.
Trade commencements increased by 9.3% in the December 2017 quarter, with the main increases seen in automotive and engineering trades workers (up 20.9%) and construction trades workers (up 12.3%) when compared with December 2016.
Non-trade commencements increased by 6.3% in the same period, with the biggest increases seen in general clerical workers (up 25.2%) and machine and stationary plant operators (up 52.2%).
However, the number of completions in the December 2017 quarter decreased by 8.4% to 25 105 when compared with the December 2016 quarter.
Overall there were 256 140 apprentices and trainees in-training as at 31 December 2017, a decrease of 2.8% from 31 December 2016.
The report Australian vocational education and training statistics: Apprentices and trainees 2017 – December quarter is available from www.ncver.edu.au/publications.
A range of related data products, including the apprentices and trainees estimates review dashboard and the apprentice and trainee outcomes data visualisation, are also available.
The report Completion and attrition rates for apprentices and trainees 2017 will be published in early July.
This work has been produced by NCVER on behalf of the Australian Government and state and territory governments, with funding provided through the Australian Government Department of Education and Training.
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