Apprenticeships get a $3350 Kickstart

The federal government has announced it will double the incentive paid to employers for an additional 21,000 electricians, plumbers and other construction tradespeople.

The Kickstart initiative will now give small and medium employers who employ an apprentice between December 2012 and February 2013 a $3350 payment. This increases the support to an apprentice in the traditional trade from $9500 to $12,850.

“The boost of traditional trades is needed because conditions in the housing sector are set to improve into 2014 and 2015,” said Minister for Skills Chris Evans.

“This will see the demand for construction skills grow again and it is important that we start training Australians in those skills now. These reforms ensure we deliver the right skills, in the right areas, at the right time.”

The government will also reform the system to:

• Balance the incentives paid to part-time and casual trainees in non-shortage occupations as a proportion of the incentive paid for a full-time trainee.
• Maintain support for trainees doing diplomas in the skills needs areas of aged care, child care and nursing while supporting other diploma students through access to HECS-style loans and the industry-driven National Workforce Development Fund.
• Simplify and better target support for employers of adult apprentices (aged 25 years and over) by replacing weekly payments of $150 to employers in the first year of an adult apprenticeship and $100 in the second year with a one-off bonus payment of $4000. Where employees aged 25 years and over are paid under the national minimum wage, they will continue to receive $13,000 in additional direct support over two years.

“By targeting our training investment to the areas where we know there will be strong demand for workers, we will ensure the demands of industry are met and that Australians are first in line for jobs, while also making sure these incentives are sustainable for the long term,” Evans said.

The move has been welcomed by the Electrical Trades Union (ETU). The ETU said that offering greater incentives to employers who take on an apprentice is vital reform and should be embraced.

“When it comes to electrical apprentices, Australia’s skills crisis is still very much a genuine problem,” said ETU national secretary Peter Tighe. “While demand for electricians is rising sharply as power usage and supply becomes increasingly sophisticated, the number of apprentices simply isn’t keeping pace.

“We need to get smarter and more strategic about the kinds of incentives we offer employers and that is exactly what the federal government has done with this important reform,” Tighe concluded.