Description
The traineeship model is currently targeted at a broader group of people compared with the original target group of young unemployed persons as envisaged by the Kirby Enquiry. This report aims to assess the effectiveness of the model for young people, particularly young early school leavers. The findings suggest that traineeships are an important pathway for female early school leavers. However, traineeships are poorly targeted if the target group is disadvantaged young people.
Summary
About the research
Over 20 years ago, during a period of high youth unemployment, Peter Kirby recommended that a system of traineeships be adopted for disadvantaged 16- and 17-year-olds. Growth in traineeships was initially slow until the mid-1990s, when rapid growth followed a series of reforms to traineeships. The reforms included the introduction of employer incentives and the widening of traineeships to existing workers, part-time workers, and older workers.
This paper builds on work commissioned by the Victorian Interdepartmental Policy Unit on Youth Transitions into the effectiveness of traineeships for the youth cohort. Our findings suggest that traineeships are an important pathway for female early school leavers. However, if the target group for traineeships is disadvantaged young people, then they are poorly targeted. The employment outcomes from traineeships are good, particularly for young early school leavers, but we find little evidence that traineeships have had a significant impact on skills acquisition.
Overall, we conclude that the traineeship model is a good one, as the mixture of formal education and experience in the workplace is educationally very attractive. Our suggestions for improvement relate to better targeting of government support. In particular, we suggest that government support be targeted towards disadvantaged job seekers, such as early school leavers.
Tom Karmel
Managing Director, NCVER