Apprenticeship boom a business boon

A surge in demand for workers and generous government incentives combine to create ‘the busiest period in apprenticeships since 1998’.

Brothers and fellow apprentices Chance and Tyler Kenos in the Gorski Engineering workshop in Melbourne. Picture: Arsineh Houspian

A boom in the number of Australians taking their first steps into skilled careers has extended into 2022, as a surge in demand for workers and generous government incentives combine to create “the busiest period in apprenticeships since 1998”.

New government data reveals there were more than 355,000 trainees and apprentices as at September, up 34 per cent from a year earlier. Of those, there were 218,000 trade apprentices in training – an increase of 21 per cent on 12 months before – and 137,000 trainees, or 63 per cent more than the same time in 2020.

With the supply of foreign skilled workers remaining constricted through the Omicron wave, employers have made the most of taxpayer-funded programs such as the Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements measure, which provides a 50 per cent wage subsidy in the first year.

The Completing Apprenticeship Commencements program, introduced in October, gave eligible employers a 10 per cent wage subsidy in the second year of an apprenticeship, and 5 per cent in the third.

Employment Minister Stuart Robert said Australia would “benefit for decades to come thanks to the investment the Morrison government has made in our skills and training system”.

“Whether it’s the tradies building the Western Sydney Airport, the thousands of new chippies and sparkies, the next generation of early childhood educators, or indeed our army of cyber professionals, our apprentice wage supports and free JobTrainer courses have secured a generation of workers from the impact of Covid-19,” Mr Robert said.

National Australian Apprenticeship Association chief executive Ben Bardon said the start of the year was a traditionally busy time but, thanks to a hot labour market and government incentives, this was “the busiest period in apprenticeships since 1998”.

“What we have seen is a revitalisation of the apprenticeship system, and our advice is to keep the momentum going,” Mr Bardon said.

Paul Baker, of Gorski Engineering, said the tipper truck and trailer manufacturing business had tripled the number of apprentices and trainees through the pandemic, from two or three, to seven or eight.

Mr Baker said the Melbourne-based company typically employed over 30 people, and that pre-Covid, fewer than 10 of those had been foreign skilled workers.

With international travel still heavily restricted, and business booming, the family-owned firm had made the most of government support to offer more young Australians the opportunity to learn a trade on the job.

Mr Baker said he would “100 per cent” maintain a higher number of trainees for the foreseeable future. One of those new starts was 17-year-old Chance Kenos, who is months into a three-year apprenticeship as a vehicle body builder, joining his brother, Tyler, an apprentice boilermaker.

Mr Kenos said he had always wanted to take on an apprenticeship, but that he was “all new” to the trade. “It’s been a steep learning curve,” he said, adding that he had been enjoying the experience and most of his friends had not found it difficult to secure their own traineeships.