The latest data released by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) has revealed a decline in the total number of apprentices and trainees in-training as of the end of March 2024, with differences emerging across trade and non-trade occupations.

Showing a national landscape of apprenticeship and traineeship activity, including quarterly and annual figures that can be broken down by state and territory, the Apprentices and trainees 2024: March quarter report indicated 351,695 apprentices and trainees in-training by the end of March 2024, a decrease of 34,570 (8.9%) when compared with the same time in 2023.

“Trade in-training numbers have declined by 4.3% since their peak in June 2022 and are still nearly 30% higher than the pre-pandemic trend. In contrast, non-trades have decreased 36.9% since the June 2022 peak, falling back to around 20% above pre-pandemic levels,” NCVER managing director John King says.

In-training refers to the number of apprenticeship/traineeship training contracts where the apprentice/trainee is actively training under the terms of their contract and has not completed, cancelled or withdrawn from their training. This includes having their training contract expire without meeting all the prescribed requirements of their program at a given point in time.

There was a relatively small decrease in trade occupations with numbers down by 3,945 (1.6%) to 238,765 compared to the end of March 2023. The largest declines were among engineering, ICT and science technicians, decreasing by 2,980, and food trades workers, decreasing by 2,100.

These were partially offset, however, by increases among automotive and engineering trades workers, up by 3,115, and electrotechnology and telecommunications trades workers, up by 2,115.