Apprenticeship growth defies employer claims

Trade apprenticeships have strongly increased, disproving employer claims that commencements would collapse following increased apprentice pay and better conditions won last year by unions.

The National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) has released data which show that commencements of trade apprenticeships have increased strongly, despite rises in apprenticeship pay.

The Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU) welcomes the increase in trade apprenticeship commencements, especially following three consecutive quarters of apprenticeship decline.

"This is a clear vindication of the AMWU's campaign to improve the lot of apprentices, who will form the bedrock of our industrial workforce of the future," said Andrew Dettmer, AMWU national president.

"The wailing of employer organisations that the union claim would price aspiring apprentices out of employment has been comprehensively rejected by employers, who have increased their employment of trade apprentices by 6%," Dettmer said.

"This is a good result for aspiring apprentices, employers and the economy."

However, overall, the total number of people engaged under Training Contracts, which includes both apprentices and trainees, remains down. The total number of Training Contract commencements in the 12 months ending 30 June 2014 was 221,700, a decrease of 4.9% from the 12 months ending 30 June 2013. This overall decrease reflects a welcome increase in trades commencements of 6.0%, counterbalanced by a worrying decrease in non-trades commencements of 11.6%.

Skills are critical to the future of the economy and employers need to consider the future employment opportunities and train young people rather than attempting to recruit those who are already trained.

The NCVER report noted the impact that changes to Commonwealth incentive payments had on commencements. This non-trade commencement collapse underlines the extent to which employer-training activity is directly proportional to the quantum of taxpayer subsidy, without which employers fail to engage in training young people. The NCVER Report is available here.