"The most substantial analysis of the employer experience of apprenticeships and traineeships in years shows Australia is at risk of falling well short of delivering the skilled workforce needed to lift our flagging productivity," said Innes Willox, Chief Executive of national employer association the Australian Industry Group.
"A skilled workforce that matches employer needs is a critical piece of Australia's productivity uplift. Workforce shortages are already a huge problem, impacting productivity and stopping businesses from running their operations in the most efficient way possible or growing their business," Mr Willox said.
The Centre for Education and Training (Ai Group CET) has released new research that shines a light on the experiences of the employers of Australia's more than 300,000 active apprentices and trainees.
"To meet current and future skills needs, Australia needs an urgent and sustained increase in the numbers of apprentices and trainees commencing and completing. The work-based learning offered through apprenticeships and traineeships helps ensure the training is relevant and over time leads to a skilled and productive workforce," Mr Willox said.
"However, employers report that employing apprentices and trainees is increasingly costly and complex.
"The role of employers within this system is vital. No apprentice or trainee can commence their training without an employer first being willing and able to employ them.
"While employers value apprenticeships and traineeships, an alarming 96 per cent of the employers we surveyed said they faced barriers when hiring apprentices and trainees.
"The demand for skilled workers we have ahead of us is immense. We already know we will need an extra 186,800 skilled technicians and trade workers alone by 2034.
"The jobs that apprenticeships and traineeships lead to extends well beyond plumbers, chippies and sparkies – spanning many industries which are vital to building housing and infrastructure, to our clean energy transition, supporting national security, lifting our sovereign manufacturing capability and delivering the high-quality services Australians now expect.
"Around two-thirds of employers surveyed reported that they have difficulty finding suitable candidates to fill apprenticeship and traineeship vacancies.
"As a nation we need to do more now to recognise and promote the benefits of apprenticeships and traineeships and the valuable careers they lead to for people of all ages.
"We also need a renewed focus on ensuring this system remains viable for employers of all sizes so that new employers participate and those already employing apprentices and trainees can maximise the number of opportunities they provide.
"Businesses with more than 200 staff play a very important role in engaging apprentices and trainees. Despite making up only 5% of businesses that hired an apprentice or trainee in 2023, they employed around 40% of all apprentices and trainees including many from diverse backgrounds.
"We also know that smaller employers or those that have not previously employed apprentices and trainees can find the system daunting to engage with and can benefit from more targeted support.
"Financial incentives for employers have been in place in various forms since 1962, so it is not surprising that half (51%) of respondents said they would be less likely to hire an apprentice or trainee should that support disappear – a result that reinforces the need for these incentives to be considered as part of the broader economic reality of the system for employers.
"The risk of inaction is immense. In a period of widespread skills shortages, anaemic productivity growth and stalling private sector investment, we simply cannot accept the apprenticeship and traineeship system maintaining current levels of commencements and completions.
"We have used the findings from this research to make 10 recommendations to be considered by governments and the education and training system as we work with them to make sure we have a future-fit workforce to deliver what Australians need into the future.
"This report lays bare the systemic and human issues that employers have in hiring apprentices and trainees. If employers lose heart or stop supporting the system, thousands of young people will miss out on vital employment opportunities. We hope this report serves as a wake up call," Mr Willox said.
The report can be found here and case study contacts can be provided on request.
