Employer size matters when it comes to apprentice completion rates, says a newly released report from National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER).
The report, The role of ‘culture’ in apprenticeship completions by Tom Karmel and David Roberts, analyses apprentice data from 2007 and looks at the impact of social background and employer size on apprentice completion rates. It also looks at completion rates across government, group training and other private sector employers.
“Employers with at least 25 apprentices generally have much higher apprenticeship completion rates than small employers,” said Dr Tom Karmel, Managing Director, NCVER.
“However, the findings do vary by industry and sector. The construction sector is different from other industries, with completion rates similar across small and large employers.
“In addition, apprentices in government had significantly higher completion rates than those employed privately. Completion rates in group training companies are a little higher than other private sector employers.
“The poor completion rates for small employers are a real challenge, given that they employ the bulk of apprentices. Of the 196 000 apprentices covered by the study, more than 160 000 apprentices are employed privately and more than 133 000 work for employers with 1–10 apprentices.”
The impact of social background on apprentice completions was also significant.
“Apprentices who live in areas with high rates of employment in trades have higher completion rates than those who live in areas with a low concentration of trade employment,” Dr Karmel said.
“These findings give weight to the notion that apprentices received higher levels of social support in areas where trade employment is common.”
However, the report found that the impact of social background was not nearly as significant as employer size.
Copies of The role of ‘culture’ in apprenticeship completions are available from: www.ncver.edu.au/publications/2498.html
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