Introduction
This time series chart presents apprentice and trainee data over a 20-year period. It complements the time series data in the Apprentices and trainees 2025: December quarter report and allows readers to interpret longer-term trends across contract statuses.
Data are derived from Apprentices and trainees 2025: December quarter. Historical data from 1994 onwards are available from VOCSTATS.
Seasonal patterns exist across apprentice and trainee contract statuses. The March quarter typically sees higher commencements than other quarters, reflecting the intake of new apprentices and trainees at the beginning of the year. In contrast, the December quarter is marked by higher completions as many contracts conclude towards the end of the year.
Time series
For more information, see Apprentices and trainees: terms and definitions (239.4 KB PDF).
Additional information
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Unless stated otherwise, data are derived from the latest National Apprentice and Trainee Collection (no. 127, March 2026 estimates), using data up until 31 December 2025, which is compiled under the Australian Vocational Education and Training Management Information Statistical Standard (AVETMISS) for Apprentice and Trainee Collection Specifications, Release 7.0, October 2015.
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Due to the delay in time between an event (commencement, completion, etc.) occurring and the reporting of that event to NCVER, estimates are applied to the most recent figures. The estimation method involves weighting recently processed numbers based on average reporting lags. As estimates are revised for up to seven quarters, figures for the last two years may differ from those published in earlier or subsequent reports. The final counts are those submitted by jurisdictions. Further details on the methodology can be found in the Estimation of apprentice and trainee statistics technical paper.
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The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia brought about significant uncertainty for individuals, businesses, and governments. The resulting suspension of normal economic activities, combined with various government and economic interventions, has impacted apprentice and trainee numbers. Therefore, caution should be exercised when interpreting and comparing data from 2020 onwards.
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In-training figures represent the number of apprenticeship and traineeship training contracts where the apprentice or trainee is actively training under the terms of their contract, and who have not completed, cancelled or withdrawn from their training, or had their training contract expired. The figure reflects the number of active contracts at a given point in time (at the end of the quarter), and therefore in-training figures cannot be cumulated over time. For this reason, quarterly comparisons are equivalent to 12-months ending comparisons, as they both represent the changes as at 31 December from one year to the next.
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All values are rounded to the nearest five, which may result in some values rounding to zero. As a result of rounding, numbers in the body of a table might not sum to the rounded totals.
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Percentages are rounded to one decimal place using unrounded data.
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Data are suppressed where no data are reported across the selected categories or period, while ‘n/a’ indicates that data are not reported for a specific value.
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Totals include all contracts, including those with unknown status. As a result, figures presented in tables may not sum to the total where unknown data are not reported separately.
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Whilst the report is limited to data on contract commencements, recommencements, in-training, completions and cancellations/withdrawals, data on contract expiries and suspensions are available in VOCSTATS.
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As the vocations approved to be under an apprenticeship or traineeship training contract are not consistent across all jurisdictions, NCVER has adopted a Trade/Non-trade categorisation for the purpose of the National Apprentices and Trainees Collection with ‘Trades’ classified as all occupations listed under ANZSCO major group ‘3-Technicians and Trades workers’ and ‘Non-trades’ classified as all other major occupations groups 1-2 and 4-8 (Occupations are classified using the ANZSCO - Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations, 2022 Australian Update).
SOURCE: National Centre for Vocational Education Research 2026, National Apprentice and Trainee collection no. 127, March 2026 estimates, NCVER, Adelaide.