Cuts ‘hurt apprentices’
LABOR has blamed Federal Government funding cuts for a further drop in completion rates among apprentices and trainees.
Data released by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research shows over two in five apprentices and trainees who commenced training in 2014 did not complete their courses.
The NCVER report shows among all occupations just 56.7 per cent of those who started training in 2014 completed their courses, down 3.2 percentage points on 2013 starters.
Completion rates for trade occupations were down 4.7 percentage points compared to those who started in 2013 and were two percentage points lower for those doing training for non-trade occupations.
Labor’s assistant spokeswoman for skills Ged Kearney said the Coalition had had six years to turn this around but had failed to take action.