Apprentices and trainees 2024: December quarter

Description

This publication provides a snapshot of apprenticeship and traineeship contracts of training across Australia.

It presents statistics on contract commencements, recommencements, completions, cancellations and withdrawals as well as contracts currently in training up until 31 December 2024, derived from the latest National Apprentice and Trainee Collection.

Seasonal trends exist across the various apprentice and trainee contract statuses. The December quarter is usually marked by a higher number of completions, as many contracts conclude towards the end of the year.

Highlights

Apprentices and trainees in-training

As at 31 December 2024, there were 311 760 active (in-training) apprentice and trainee contracts nationally, with over two-thirds in trade occupations. The total number of in-training contracts decreased by 8.3% compared with 31 December 2023. Trade contracts decreased by 2.9%, to 220 920, while non-trade contracts declined by 19.1%, to 90 825.

Trade occupations

Compared with the December quarter 2023:

• commencements decreased by 13.9% overall. The largest decreases were among Automotive and Engineering Trades Workers, (down 740, or by 17.1%, to 3565) and Construction Trade Workers, (down 690, or by 16.0%, to 3615). These occupations accounted for 25.5% and 25.8% of all commencing trade contracts respectively.
• completions increased by 8.4% overall. The largest increases were among Construction Trade Workers, (up 875, or by 23.9%, to 4540) and Electrotechnology and Telecommunications Trades Workers, (up 710, or by 24.2%, to 3655). These occupations accounted for 28.9% and 23.3% of all completed trade contracts respectively.
• cancellations and withdrawals declined by 7.8% overall. The largest decrease was in Constructions Trade Workers, (down 405, or by 8.6%, to 4300). This occupation accounted for 31.7% of all completed trade contracts.

Non-Trade occupations

Compared with the December quarter 2023:

• commencements decreased by 18.7% overall. The largest decreases were among Clerical and Administrative Workers, (down 1000, or by 32.9%, to 2040), Community and Personal Service Workers, (down 880, or by 12.0% to 6475) and Sales Workers, (down 780, or 45.7%, to 925). These occupations accounted for 14.8%, 47.0% and 6.7% of commencing non-trade contracts respectively.
• completions decreased by 12.3% overall. The largest decreases were among Clerical and Administrative Workers, (down 1095, or by 29.8%, to 2570) and Sales Workers, (down 420, or by 24.0%, to 1325). These occupations accounted for 18.4% and 9.5% of completed non-trade contracts respectively.
• cancellations and withdrawals decreased by 25.0% overall. The largest decrease was among Clerical and Administrative Workers, (down 1165, or by 41.6%, to 1635) and Community and Personal Service Workers, (down 870, or by 16.6%, to 4355). These occupations accounted for 17.8% and 47.3% of all cancelled or withdrawn non-trade contracts respectively.

Figure 1   Stock of trade and non-trade contracts of training, December quarter 2024-23

¹ In-training is comprised of active contracts, i.e., the number of contracts that have commenced, recommenced or suspended, and where contracts have not yet been completed, cancelled/withdrawn or expired.

Report

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

1. Unless stated otherwise, data are derived from the latest National Apprentice and Trainee Collection (no. 123, March 2025 estimates), using data up until 31 December 2024, 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.
2. 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 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Note that the percentages presented in this product are reported to one decimal place. All other numbers, after aggregation, have been rounded to the nearest five. Rounding can lead to instances where the numbers in the body of a given table might not add to the rounded totals.
6. Unknown data have not been reported in any tables, whereas the total includes all contracts, including those with unknown status. Hence, some figures in the tables may not sum to the total.
7. Whilst the report is limited to data on contract commencements, in-training, completions and cancellations/withdrawals, data on contract recommencements, expiries and suspensions are available in VOCSTATS.
8. 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).

This infographic is drawn from Australian vocational education and training statistics: apprentices and trainees 2024 — December quarter, NCVER, Adelaide.

SOURCE: National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), National Apprentice and Trainee collection no. 123, March 2025 estimates, Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2025, February). Labour Force, Australia, Detailed. cat. no. 6291.0.55.001, see https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/employment-and-unemployment/labour-force-australia-detailed/latest-release.

10 year time series

The timeseries chart allows users to interact with apprentice and trainee data over a 10 year period and helps to visually interpret trends evident across various contract statuses.

DataBuilder

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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 Employment and Workplace Relations.

The views and opinions expressed in this document are those of NCVER and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Australian Government or state and territory governments.

ISSN  1440-0359

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