Apprentices and trainees 2025: March quarter

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For the most recent release please see the Apprentices and trainees collection page.

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 March 2025, derived from the latest National Apprentice and Trainee Collection.

Seasonal trends exist across the various apprentice and trainee contract statuses. The March quarter typically sees a higher number of commencements compared to other quarters, reflecting the intake of new apprentices and trainees at the beginning of the year.

Highlights

Apprentices and trainees in-training

As at 31 March 2025, there were 320,830 active (in-training) apprentice and trainee contracts nationally, with over two-thirds in trade occupations. The total number of in-training contracts decreased by 7.9% from 31 March 2024. Trade contracts decreased by 3.2%, to 230,145, while non-trade contracts declined by 17.9%, to 90,665.

Trade occupations

Compared with the March quarter 2024:

• Commencements declined by 1.8% overall, but varied across trade occupations. Trade apprenticeship commencements have traditionally tracked closely with the unemployment rate, 4.1% in March 2025, illustrating their general responsiveness to economic conditions. The largest declines were among Construction Trades Workers (down 350, or by 4.2%, to 8,055), and Automotive and Engineering Trades Workers (down 300, or by 3.0%, to 9,770). These occupations accounted for 25.1% and 30.5% of all commencing trade contracts respectively. Commencements increased for Electrotechnology and Telecommunications Trades Workers (up 200, or by 2.6%, to 7,925), accounting for 24.7% of commencing trade contracts.
• Completions increased by 11.6% overall, continuing a general upward trend since the March quarter 2023. The largest increases were among Construction Trade Workers (up 775, or by 19.9%, to 4,660), Automotive and Engineering Trades Workers (up 585, or by 16.7%, to 4,085), and Electrotechnology and Telecommunications Trades Workers (up 480, or by 18.7%, to 3,030). These occupations accounted for 31.1%, 27.2% and 20.2% of completed trade contracts respectively.
• Cancellations and withdrawals declined by 5.1% overall. The largest decrease was in Constructions Trade Workers (down 365, or by 7.7%, to 4,345). This occupation accounted for 30.8% of all cancelled or withdrawn trade contracts.

Non-Trade occupations

Compared with the March quarter 2024:

• Commencements decreased  by 14.1% overall, continuing a general downward trend since the March quarter 2022. The largest decreases were among Sales Workers (down 1,095, or 44.6%, to 1,360), Clerical and Administrative Workers (down 895, or by 20.4%, to 3,500), and Community and Personal Service Workers (down 740, or by 7.9% to 8,635). These occupations accounted for 6.8%, 17.6% and 43.4% of commencing non-trade contracts respectively.
• Completions decreased in most occupations and by 11.1% overall. The largest declines were among Clerical and Administrative Workers (down 870, or by 30.1%, to 2,020), accounting for 19.9% of completed non-trade contracts. Contract completions increased among Community and Personal Service Workers (up 400, or by 10.7%, to 4,140), accounting for 40.7% of completed non-trade contracts.
• Cancellations and withdrawals decreased across all occupations and by 23.1% overall. This follows a downward trend since the March quarter 2023. The largest decreases were among Clerical and Administrative Workers (down 1,260, or by 47.4%, to 1,395) and Community and Personal Service Workers (down 595, or by 11.9%, to 4,405). These occupations accounted for 15.2% and 47.9% of all cancelled or withdrawn non-trade contracts respectively.

Figure 1   Stock of trade and non-trade contracts of training, March quarter 2024-25

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. 124, June 2025 estimates), using data up until 31 March 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.
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 March 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 2025 — March quarter, NCVER, Adelaide.

SOURCE: National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), National Apprentice and Trainee collection no. 124, June 2025 estimates, Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2025, June). 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.

© Commonwealth of Australia, 2025

For details and exceptions visit the NCVER Portal.

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

Published by NCVER, ABN 87 007 967 311

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.

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