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Note that the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia has created uncertain times for individuals, business and governments, which have affected apprentice and trainee numbers in 2020.  Care should be taken when comparing 2020 data with data from previous years.

This infographic provides a snapshot of apprenticeships and traineeships across Australia. It presents statistics on commencements, completions, cancellations and withdrawals and those currently in training. Unless stated otherwise, data are derived from the latest National Apprentice and Trainee Collection (no. 105, September 2020 estimates), 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.

Due to the delay in time between an event (commencement, completion, etc.) occurring and the reporting of that event to NCVER, NCVER estimates 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 in 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.

More information, including longer term trends, detailed data and explanatory notes, is available from the Apprentices and Trainees Collection page.

The states and territories are diverse in terms of economies, industry and VET policy and this needs to be considered in any detailed analysis.

Databuilder

The DataBuilder tool allows users to quickly create customised tables using the latest Apprentice and trainee data, filter by a selection of variables and compare training activity over time. Users can view quarterly and annual data for commencements, completions, cancellations/withdrawals and in-training.