Search Results

Apprenticeships have a very long history in Australia, building on the traditions of the medieval guilds. The essence of the apprenticeship is the contract of training - a legal contract between an individual, an employer and a training provider. The defining characteristic is the combination of employment and training. The purpose of this occasional paper is to describe what we know about apprenticeships and traineeships, with a view to assessing the likely impact of the current economic downturn on them.

An interview with Tom Karmel about this report is indexed at TD/TNC 97.31. Show less

Making use of the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) 'Apprentice and trainee destination survey', the primary focus of this research is the impact of wages on the decision not to continue with an apprenticeship or traineeship. The approach taken is to model three wages relevant to apprentices and trainees: the wage during training; the expected wage in alternative employment; and the expected wage on completion. The results of these models are then used as inputs into a model which estimates the impact of wages on the final probability of completing an apprenticeship or traineeship. The models also allow for a direct estimate of the short-term value of completion to be made by looking at the differences between the wages of those who did and those who did not complete. Overall, the conclusion is that wages do have some impact on the decision not to continue with an apprenticeship or traineeship but the effect is not consistent. Specifically, the difference between wages on completion and wages in alternative employment is significant in the trades, and the difference between wages during training and wages in alternative employment is significant for males in non-trade traineeships. For females in traineeships there is no significant relationship between wages and completion rates. In looking at the value of completion, the major point to emerge is that apprenticeships and traineeships are a bit of a mixed bag. For trade apprentices (specifically, electrotechnology and telecommunications, construction, and automotive and engineering) expected wages on completion significantly exceed expected wages in alternative employment. For most other occupations the value of completing the qualification is modest or even negative (notably, sales). This lack of a premium attached to completion suggests that there is a range of traineeships for which there is apparently little skills acquisition during the training job, or if there is the skills are not valued by the labour market over the general work experience obtained during the traineeship. Show less

In this paper, the authors identify various educational paths involving school and post-school study and assess the effectiveness of these in relation to post-school outcomes at age 25 years. They use the 1995 cohort of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) and find that, for males, undertaking an apprenticeship after completing senior secondary and university are attractive paths. For females, the best path is that of university study, even for those with low academic orientation. Show less

Vocational education and training (VET) has been seen to be an important element of school education for some time now. More recently, school-based apprentices and trainees have been given more prominence as an element of VET in Schools, partly as a response to skill shortages in a wide range of areas. The purpose of this short paper is to provide data on school-based apprentices and trainees to enable a judgement to be made about how this policy push is unfolding. After providing some context on the policy environment relevant to school-based apprenticeships and traineeships, this paper provides data on how many and what areas are covered, and goes on to look at attrition and completion rates. To provide a comparison group, data on apprenticeships and traineeships among young people are also given, noting that they form a very important entry point into the labour market for a large proportion of young people. The study found that despite a concerted policy push, the number of school-based apprentices and trainees is small and highly concentrated in Queensland and Victoria, among retail and hospitality training packages, and at the certificates I and II level. Attrition is lower among school-based than all young apprentices and trainees, both within the first six months and year, and at both certificate I and II and certificate III and above levels. With regard to the proportion completing their training, completion rates for certificates I and II are higher for school-based contracts than for all young apprentices and trainees, but substantially lower for certificates III and above. Completion rates in hairdressing, metal and engineering, and automotive certificates III and above are particularly low among school-based apprentices and trainees. Show less

Looking at apprentice and trainee data and employment data back to 1995, we find that declines in apprentice commencements lead declines in total trades employment by four quarters, whereas declines in trainee commencements appear to lag declines in employment in non-trade occupations. Based on this historical relationship, the reduction in apprentice and trainee numbers suggested a much larger decline in employment than eventuated. The low proportion of redundant apprentices who were able to resume training is concerning. However, because apprentice and trainee commencements rebounded so quickly, we anticipate only a minor interruption to the supply of tradespeople. Show less

In this interview, Steve Davis talks with Tom Karmel about his paper 'Apprenticeships and traineeships in the downturn' [available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 97.15]. Apprenticeships have a very long history in Australia, building on the traditions of the medieval guilds. The essence of the apprenticeship is the contract of training - a legal contract between an individual, an employer and a training provider. The defining characteristic is the combination of employment and training. The purpose of the paper is to describe what we know about apprenticeships and traineeships, with a view to assessing the likely impact of the current economic downturn on them. Show less

Five opinion pieces were released in 2008: (1) 'Using VET to increase workforce participation' by Mark Cully (released 19 February); (2) 'Tasmania's polytechnic 'adventure' provides challenges for traditional measures and assumptions' by Tom Karmel (released 27 May); (3) 'Higher level VET qualifications and the tale of two sectors' by Sandra Pattison (released 3 September); (4) 'Learning, more than earning, the key to keeping staff' by Tom Karmel (released 22 November); (5) 'Doing the maths: why traineeships proliferate in low paying jobs' by Mark Cully (released 24 November). Show less

The Fair Work Commission is responsible for reviewing and setting minimum wages for employees in Australia's national workplace relations system. Each financial year the Commission's Expert Panel for annual wage reviews conducts an annual wage review and issues a decision and national minimum wage order for employees not covered by an award or agreement. A number of reports have been released by the Commission, each addressing one or more objectives of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (Act). This report comprises two parts. Part one, 'Background and supply-side factors affecting commencement and completion of apprenticeships and traineeships', is authored by Lucy Nelms, Kelvin Yuen, Alice Pung, Sabrin Farooqui and Joseph Walsh. Part two, 'Demand-side factors affecting apprenticeships and traineeships', is authored by Tom Karmel.

Chapters one and two of the first part of the report provide an introduction and background to the apprenticeship and traineeship system in Australia, and also examines the legislative and policy framework. Chapter three examines trends in commencements and completions of apprenticeships and traineeships, and the apprentice and trainee share of total employment, over the past two to three decades. Chapter four explores a range of supply-side factors affecting the take up and completion of apprenticeships and traineeships. This section concentrates on research findings related to factors that are specific to apprentices and trainees, and not factors that affect labour supply decisions more generally, such as household financial need or care responsibilities. Potential factors affecting supply (i.e. an individual's decision to supply their labour as an apprentice or trainee) that are explored include: personal characteristics; education and training; perceived labour market factors; wages; perceptions, awareness and promotion; intrinsic factors; and experience of working conditions and training. Chapter five provides a brief conclusion. Part two of this report focuses on the demand side, that is the impact of employers on apprenticeships and traineeships. It first looks at commencements and then at factors relating to the completion of apprenticeships and traineeships.

Edited excerpts from publication. Show less

The purpose of this paper is to speculate on the impact of [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 on the number of apprentices and trainees and the consequent supply of skills. In 2020 governments moved very quickly to introduce programs to underpin the system, at a time in which the labour market was in turmoil. Subsequent increases in the level of commencements support the notion that the policies were broadly successful in increasing commencements. However, the story is more complicated, and it is necessary to delve into occupational level data. In many occupations a serious decline in the first year was more than offset by increases in the next. In particular, commencement numbers were unseasonably high in the December quarter 2020, and seasonably high in the March quarter 2021. Commencements are a leading indicator of what is happening in apprenticeships and traineeships, but it is completions that indicate the level of skills formation and we investigate what is likely to occur over the next few years in this regard.

Abstract from publisher's website. Show less

This chapter describes the development of apprenticeships and traineeships in Australia, demonstrating the development of the institution as the model of occupational training for the trades. The authors explain the reforms behind Australia’s large increase in apprenticeships and lower-level traineeships over the past few decades, and highlight the issues that need to be addressed if the system is to remain relevant into the future. Show less