Skills at Work

Skills at Work is a Australian Commonwealth Government evaluation of New Apprenticeships.
Summary Report (pdf)
Full Report (pdf)

The summary report included the following findings:
The number of new apprentices has increased since 1998 when the scheme was opened up and promoted to a much wider cross section of industry. This has seen growths in proportions of female new apprentices, and older workers. The proportions of completions across qualification levels has also shifted (p7). Certificate 3 level accounts for around 2/3 of commencements. Part-time engagement has also increased from 2% in 96 to 24% in 2003. (p7) Females have higher growth in Cert 1, 2 and 4 than males.

Older workers who take on a New Apprenticeship are more likely than their younger colleagues not to have achieved Year 12 qualifications at school (p6).

New Apprenticeships have also become longer from 1996 to 2003. In 2003, 3/4 of training was between one and four years duration. There was not a breakdown of the length of contract in more detail eg durations of one, two or three years, even in the full report. (p9)

Various incentive schemes that have been introduced over the years have had the desired effect in increasing uptake of New Apprenticeships (p14-18).
Three industries are identified where the enterprise's expenditure on training has descreased where government funding for New Apprentices has been available.: Maining, Retail Trade and Transport & Storage. (p21)

As New Apprentices under the Existing worker scheme are likely to be permanent, fulltime, skilled workers, it is difficult to assess the employment benefits to them.
Further questions that were identified were included the need for more investigation of the benefits of New Apprenticeships for existing workers and whether alternative schemes would serve these employees and employers better. (p4)

The Summary Report concludes that overall the New Apprenticeship Scheme has acheived the goals of increased participation and widening the range of industries in which the apprenticeship model is alive and kicking. Incentives for target areas such as innovation and rural industries have promoted an increased rate of growth.