The rate of Australians starting apprenticeships has risen but it’s in stark contrast to the record levels of non-completion. Sean Carroll finds out what’s going wrong for a trade industry that needs an injection of skilled workers.

The post-COVID working environment is much different to the world that preceded it with labour shortages, supply chain issues and the Great Resignation adding additional pressure to the world.

There is no exception for skilled trades as the building and construction industry is struggling to stay on top of workloads.

The most recent data from the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NVCER) reports that while apprentices and trainees have increased by almost 17% on the previous year, a record number of workers aren’t finishing their apprenticeship. Over the past decade, the rate of completion is now at 55.7%.

This data is in stark contrast to that of the National Skills Commission which, in its annual report for 2021, revealed that almost half of employers (45%) reported having recruitment difficulty for their most recent vacancies. The most recent national Skills Priority List found that 42% of technician and trade occupations are currently in shortage.

NECA manager, projects and governance, Michelle Ellis, says that the electrical industry is suffering the most severe skills shortages of all industries, saying that a large majority of NECA electrical apprentices who graduate with their Certificate III are employed almost immediately as electricians.

“If they don’t go straight into the trade, it’s generally because they have decided to move on to further study, like engineering, or pursuing another career path for which a trade is considered beneficial like defence, fire or police force,” she says.

“It’s not because they can’t secure a job at the other end.”

So, with so many job opportunities there to be snatched up, what’s gone wrong?

Apprenticeship Employment Network executive director, Gary Workman, says that addressing the disconnect between high apprenticeship numbers and ongoing skills shortages is crucial in keeping the lights on for some businesses across the country.

“Apprenticeships are a long-term solution to address skill gaps in the workforce, the current apprenticeship boom needs to be continued to assist with addressing those gaps,” he says.

“Additional measures are also needed to ensure youth have sustainable career options and businesses can continue to build the skills they need.”

He adds that the Federal Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, and the Minister for Skills and Training, Brendan O’Connor, are looking at more efficient ways to address the skill shortages of today and tomorrow.

“It became clear to me in the first days of my role in the Skills and Training portfolio, that one of the biggest issues for the sector is the poor completion rates for our apprentices and trainees,” Brendan said in a speech at the ACCI & VECCI Business Lunch in October 2022.

“Over the last decade, the proportion of people completing apprenticeships fell, with the rate now at 55.7%. Low completion rates derail potential careers, they’re costly and deprive the economy of much-needed skills.

“That’s clearly not good enough.”

One of the stimuli for the industry was the Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements (BAC) scheme. The BAC, which ended on 30 June 2022, gave employers of any size, location or industry a Federal Government subsidy of 50% of the wages for apprentices or trainees employed from 5 October 2020. The support was applied for 12 months from the first day of commencement of your new apprentice or trainee and was worth up to a maximum of $7,000 per quarter.

National Apprentice Employee Network chief executive, Dianne Dayhew, says that a lot of employers saw the scheme and were attracted to the salary and wage subsidy.

“Some employers took on an apprentice without an understanding of the commitment needed and the entire training period,” she says.

“I think this added a lot of apprentices to the pool, especially in the skilled trades, and without providing the appropriate training and stability that an apprentice needs, we saw an uptick in the number of non-completions.”

Dianne says that this was just one of several reasons why the NVCER data shows what it does.

“There have been several reports lately that show that the number one reason why people aren’t completing their apprenticeships is workplace issues,” she says.

“This is why we believe the group training organisation (GTO) model is so valuable because when an apprentice starts one through a GTO, they are assigned a person as a mentor and point of contact for their new trade. This person works with them, helps them get to know their supervisors, checks in on them and helps them understand the entire working environment.”

She says that the ability to fall over multiple times and be helped back up through mistakes is valuable for apprentices. Without this support and stability, some apprentices may look elsewhere for employment.

Additionally, if the training environment isn’t ideal, it’s easy to get a wandering eye given the working conditions.

NECA’s Michelle Ellis supports this belief after recognising that at present, fewer than 55% of apprentices in the broader electrical industry complete their trade training.

“Current completion rates for electrical apprentices employed by NECA GTOs, and generally trained through NECA register training organisations (RTOs), are stable at 90% or above,” Michelle explains.

She adds that the “recipe” applied for this success includes robust apprentice recruitment practices, industry-led, quality training that reflects industry best practice techniques and technologies, apprentice mentoring and employer support throughout the apprenticeship.

“NECA strives to provide its apprentices not only with best practice Certificate III training and mentoring support but also opportunities for professional and personal development throughout the course and their apprenticeship,” she says.

“In this way, we’re creating knowledgeable, safe and ethical trade professionals.”

Ben Bardon, chief executive of the National Australian Apprenticeships Association (NAAA), says that the completion rates have been low for a long time but the figures were worsened by the pandemic.

“During the early years of the pandemic, the rate of suspensions was roughly eight times higher than the normal rate. A certain percentage of those suspensions were understandable, like in hospitality, businesses that weren’t operating during lockdowns,” he says.

“Obviously, during that time, many of the trades continued but the building and construction industry was constrained. There were limits to the number of people allowed on domestic construction sites and commercial sites also had some limitations which had an impact on apprenticeship suspensions.”

He says that he has seen a lot of anecdotal evidence of job switching which is typically a good thing for the economy – a person moving jobs for better working conditions or pay. But because of this, the skilled trades are losing potential workers.

“In apprenticeships, you don’t want people job switching but the cost-of-living pressures and the low wages have combined to see plenty of people going in a different direction. The things that have increased are food, travel and rent expenses that they can’t avoid and since apprentices are the legally lowest-paid workers in the country, there’s a lot of pressure to find different work,” Ben explains.

“Low wages have always been an issue for apprentices but it has been exacerbated by some other factors that we’re seeing. Especially as the economy emerges from the pandemic with a tight labour market and high inflation, it makes sense that people to look for a better-paying job elsewhere. But it’s not great for completion rates.”

It’s her turn

In one of her first speeches to parliament, senator Barbara Pocock said: “Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) needs to ask, how can we ensure that women get a fair share of the jobs of the future, including in new apprenticeships?”

“As Australia and countries across the world transition to low carbon economies, there is an opportunity for a huge range of new jobs in existing and expanding areas. Women are currently underrepresented in many of these trades and areas, making up only 2% of the workforce.”

Michelle agrees with this sentiment. In her time with NECA, she has been instrumental in building the training business in the ACT, a branch that has achieved a 15% mark of participation for female apprentices.

“They have achieved this with targeted action through quality pre-employment programs and good support for apprentices,” Barbara explains.

“The Labor Government has invested $95.6 million to train 10,000 new apprentices for the new energy jobs of the future. In my view, Labor needs to ensure that at least 15%, and hopefully more, of these apprenticeships go to women.”

Michelle says that NECA sees this 15% figure as just the beginning and there are still barriers to female participation in the trades: “We look forward to building on these figures and creating an industry which provides equal opportunity for anyone wanting to make it their career.”

In 2022, NECA Education & Careers, in conjunction with Apprenticeships Victoria and the Tasmanian State Government, launched the Women and Their Trades (WaTT) campaign, providing career opportunities for women in the electrical industry.

At the time, women made up only 8% of the electrical industry, and only 3.5% of Electrical Apprentices were women, a very small number compared to other industries across the country. In researching why this is, NECA made sure to highlight to women of all ages, either school leavers or mid-career changers, that the electrical industry is a viable pathway.

The WaTT campaign saw 25 women engage in an electrical apprenticeship in Victoria and 12 in Tasmania with NECA Education & Careers funded by the respective State Governments for two years. It continues to follow these 37 women through to completion and has armed them with the tools, resources and support needed to get ahead in their electrical careers.

Outside of these apprentices, one of the main aims of the project was to bring up the visibility of the trade to other women and girls.

Ben from NAAA says that this is necessary to welcoming more women into the industry, there need to be more female trainers and mentors in the workforce. It supports the idea that “you can’t be what you can’t see”. NAAA is suggesting that JSA have this as a major focus now and moving forward, ensuring women can start and complete their apprenticeship.

“There’s a huge difference between saying to women that there’s a pathway to a stable job with good wages and making an environment that’s conducive to young women across the trades,” Ben says.

“For years, women in trades have had to put up with antiquated and sexist behaviour and nobody should have to. So those kinds of cultural changes that we need to see in the construction industry are what we need to change in the trades.”

Outside of an equal-opportunity trade workforce, with apprenticeship numbers struggling, the country will benefit from increased opportunities by 50% of the possible entrants.

Light at the end of the tunnel

Despite a record level of apprentices leaving before completing their apprenticeships, the NVCER data shows that a record number of people are entering an apprenticeship, figures that have been boosted by several government initiatives to stimulate the economy post-pandemic.

At the time of writing, more data has been released, stating that 17,165 apprentices commenced an apprenticeship in the construction industry in the March 2022 quarter, a higher figure than the comparable period before the pandemic.

“There has also been a strong pick-up in the number of people in training within the construction industry in non-trade occupations. There were 9,340 undertaking non-trade training which is more than double the number before the pandemic,” Housing Industry Association executive director, industry policy, Geordan Murray says.

“It’s promising to see the strong growth of women beginning careers in the building industry as the number of women undertaking trade training has increased by 108% since the pandemic began.”

Additionally, Ben Bardon says that there’s potential for significant improvement in the years ahead, now that we’re on the other side of the pandemic.

And even if the pandemic is in the rear-view mirror, there’s a huge investment from the government, meaning that the apprenticeships issue isn’t struggling because of a lack of resources.

“Our focus is on investing in priority occupations and providing the support apprentices need to complete their apprenticeship – alongside support from training providers and employers,” Brendan O’Connor concluded in his October 2022 speech.

“This government will explore options to improve the apprenticeship support system, work with you to drive up completion rates and create more opportunities for training that deliver more secure, more rewarding jobs.”