New data from the National Centre for Vocational Education and Research (NCVER) demonstrates that despite promising to skill more Australians than the Coalition, Anthony Albanese’s Labor Government is overseeing a wholesale collapse in the number of apprentices and trainees in every state and in almost every electorate across the nation.
This new data demonstrates Labor’s much vaunted Fee-Free TAFE skills policy has comprehensively failed to maintain the number of apprentices and trainees taking up training with numbers collapsing across the country.
Trade apprentices in-training hit record highs in the final months of the Coalition Government and as of June 2022 there were 429,000 apprentices and trainees in-training, 25 per cent more than at the same time in 2021. After just one year of Labor this number has now fallen to 377,645. That means there are over 50,000 less apprentices and trainees in training today than when Labor took office, a loss of one in ten.
Labor’s failures on skills will have serious impacts on Australia’s economy.
The data, which has also been broken down by electorate, shows that in the final year of the Coalition Government in-training numbers increased in every electorate bar one, while under the first year of Labor’s skills policies the number of apprentices and trainees dropped in every electorate except four.
This means under the Coalition's final year of government apprentices and trainees increased across 99.3 per cent of electorates whereas under Labor’s first year of government numbers dropped across 97.3 per cent of electorates, a damning statistic.
From the June Quarter 2022 new starts of apprenticeships and traineeships is also in freefall:
- Commencements (new starts) are down 49.7 per cent.
- Male commencements are down 47.6 per cent.
- Female commencements are down 52.6 per cent.
- Trade apprentice commencements are down 38.6 per cent.
- Completions (graduations) for trade apprentices are also down 10.3 per cent from June Quarter 2022.
Labor came to power promising it would solve skills shortages and deliver more opportunities for Australians to get into training. But the reality is they have delivered a collapse in apprenticeship and traineeship starts and in the number of Australians in-training.
Fee-Free TAFE has comprehensively failed to match the Coalition's skills policies and the Australian economy will pay the price.
Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Skills and Training, Sussan Ley said this was a devastating blow for Labor’s economic credibility.
“Whether it is Anthony Albanese or Jim Chalmers, Education Minister Jason Clare or Skills Minister Brendan O’Connor, right across Labor’s key leadership group there have been massive drops in the number of apprentices or trainees in their own electorates, Richard Marles has lost one in five in just a year.” she said.
“Key electorates that delivered Labor victory at the election are also being failed by the skills policies enacted by Anthony Albanese; Chisholm and Higgins in Melbourne has lost one in five apprentices and trainees; Hasluck and Cowan in Western Australia have lost one in ten; Lyons in Tasmania has lost one in four; and in Sydney’s Reid and Parramatta numbers have dropped by 17 per cent,” she said.
“The data is clear, despite all of Labor’s promises to skill Australians their policies are failing and there are now over 50,000 less apprentices and trainees today than when Labor took office.”
“This puts Australia’s economy in a weaker position and brings into question our capacity to deliver on national priorities like AUKUS, the infrastructure pipeline and the housing we need to meet Labor’s out of control migration settings.”
“The bottom line here is we need more apprentices and trainees not less, Labor promised they would skill more Australians, but their programs are not delivering, this is a total disaster brought to you by the Australian Labor Party.”