New wage subsidy boost to create 100,000 new apprentices

More support is needed to make a post-pandemic trainee boom a reality warns the nation’s peak building lobby.

Third-year apprentice Kane Gough with his employer, Garry McLaughlin, at work at Mr McLaughlin’s Queanbeyan furniture restorer workshop. Picture: Sean Davey

The nation’s peak building lobby is warning more support is needed to make Scott Morrison’s hopes of a post-pandemic trainee boom a reality after the government unveiled a new wage subsidy for 100,000 apprentices.

In an extension of current wage support, the government will pay 50 per cent of the wages of any trainee taken up from Monday through to next September. The scheme will be available for any apprentice no matter the size of the business they work for.

Employment Minister Michaelia Cash said on Sunday the scheme would help young people leaving school facing a volatile jobs market.

“My message to businesses out there, small, medium or large, is: as of tomorrow if you sign up a new Australian apprentice or trainee you will be eligible for the 50 per cent wage subsidy through to 30 September next year,” she said.

Gough and McLaughlin restore a drawer. Picture: Sean Davey

But Master Builders Australia chief executive Denita Wawn said another building stimulus package was needed in the budget to ensure the construction sector had the ­capacity to hire more apprentices with subsidies or without.

“Our members need confidence that they can and should continue to invest in the future ­capacity of their businesses ­despite the dramatic collapse in demand that we are currently witnessing and anticipate will worsen, particularly over the next 12 months,” she told The Australian.

“This $1.2bn investment by the government is undoubtedly good news but its effectiveness will be blunted without further stimulus to support and activate demand for building and construction services.”

Housing Industry Association chief executive Graham Wolfe said the scheme should act as an enticement for Year 11 and 12 students to consider an apprenticeship. “As we reach the end of 2020 and students are considering their next step in 2021, an apprenticeship in residential building, which has remained open for business throughout COVID, should be seen as a real opportunity,” he said.

“We know that employment ­incentives work. Today’s announcement is as a sensible and targeted approach to supporting the class of 2020 and those businesses that continue to operate in these challenging times and support Australia economic recovery.”

Queanbeyan furniture restorer Garry McLaughlin has been able to increase his team of young tradies this year because of the COVID support for apprentices, and said the extension would allow him to take on more at his NSW workshop.

“We’ve had a few join us — ­including one young woman who was due to travel and can’t now because of COVID — and the ­financial support has been important. You lose money on apprentices,” he said.

“But seeing these young people learn these skills, especially in something like French polishing, which is a dying art, is amazing and they get so much out of it. With this extension of the subsidy, we should be able to shore up enough to get another apprentice.”