Australia has a housing shortage and a trades skills gap, yet there are fewer apprentices today than in 2015. Ben Bardon, CEO of the National Australian Apprenticeship Association, sees the problem from the middle of the system. His members are the Apprentice Connect Australia providers that sign up apprentices and support employers, and he shares what’s going wrong and what business owners can actually do about it.
The numbers haven’t kept pace with the economy. There are about 280,000 apprentices and trainees today, compared with 290,000 in 2015. In that time the labour force has grown 22%, which is nearly 1.5 million more workers. Employer support has shrunk too. Payments that once reached up to $15,000 a quarter are now much lower, with around $5,000 available for residential construction trades, a figure that hasn’t moved since 1998. Ben says many employers read that as a signal that apprentices are no longer a priority, even though it remains a national one.
The first three months decide everything. A survey of 16,000 apprentices found that most who drop out do so in the first year, and mostly in the first three months, with the peak in month three. Ben believes work trials and school-based apprenticeships help both sides know what they’re signing up for, and that completion rates are much higher for people who move from those pathways into a full qualification. Queensland does it particularly well, and he says other states adopting that model could triple school-based numbers in three to four years.
His advice for employers is practical. Put real effort into recruitment, set clear expectations, and closely support new starters instead of handing them a broom and hoping someone helps later. Hold a monthly sit-down where you each rate how the apprentice is going, and name a person they can go to when the supervisor is out on the tools. Wellbeing indicators in his members’ research are lower than in 2018 across all 15 measures, so small problems can show up as work problems if nobody talks about them. If things go wrong, or an apprentice is only getting exposure to one part of the trade, the Apprentice Connect provider can mediate or arrange a rotation to another employer.
On AI, Ben sees genuine upside for tradies with quoting, scheduling and getting back to customers, and he doesn’t expect robots on job sites within three to five years. The real risk is not knowing when the tool is wrong, which still takes real trade knowledge to catch. He also notes that third year apprentices are sometimes teaching their bosses tools they picked up at TAFE, a sign of how fast this is moving.
If you’re thinking about putting on an apprentice, or you’re struggling with one, Ben’s advice is simple: call your local Apprentice Connect Australia provider. You can find them at apprenticeships.gov.au, and learn more about Ben’s association at naaa.com.au.
