The latest release of national apprentice and trainee data show trade commencements increased in the March 2018 quarter, up 7.4% on the same quarter in 2017.
Apprentices and trainees 2018 — March 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.
The main increases in trade commencements were seen in automotive and engineering trades workers (up 13.3%) and electrotechnology and telecommunications trades workers (up 14.2%) when compared with the March quarter 2017.
Non-trade commencements decreased by 4.2% in the same period, with the biggest decreases seen in sales assistants and salespersons (down 32.1%) and sports and personal service workers (down 16.8%).
In total, there were 56 015 trade and non-trade commencements in the March 2018 quarter, up 1.5% when compared with the March quarter 2017.
Completions decreased in the March 2018 quarter when compared with the same time last year, down 9.0% to 22 425.
Overall there were 272 440 apprentices and trainees in-training as at 31 March 2018, a decrease of 1.2% from 31 March 2017.
The report Australian VET statistics: Apprentices and trainees 2018 — March 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 available with this release.
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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