Apprentices are an important part of the future of Australia’s skilled workforce..
Using data from the National Centre for Vocational Education Research on Australian Apprentices in training, we can see how the numbers of Apprenticeship start ups has changed over the years. A big increase during the Liberal government 1996-2007, but no real change since the Labor party took over, even after the election promise.
- 1996 76,200 At the start of a new Liberal Government
- 2007 271,500 At the start of a new Labor Government
- 2009 271,200 after an ALP 2007 election promise to increase total training by 450,000 places.
Julia Gillard speech 2nd April 2008
In the lead up to the 2007 federal election, we promised an additional 450,000 new training places over the next four years [ie: 2011], with the majority at the post compulsory Certificate III level and above.
The creation of those places is already happening in earnest.
source
2007 Federal Election promises
Labor will spend $500 million to 450,000 new training positions – mainly apprenticeships – across Australia, 200,000 more than are currently available. source
Links:
Statistics Sources:
- National Centre for Vocational Education Research
- /statistics/apprenticeships1963-2009.xls