Apprenticeship and traineeship numbers have plunged across New South Wales, worsening the state\u2019s housing crisis and leaving young people and small businesses without the skills needed to build the future.
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New data from the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) shows just over 42,000 apprentices and trainees commenced in the 12 months to March 2025.
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This is the lowest level in more than five years.
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The data also reveals more than 8,000 fewer apprentices are currently in training compared with the same period in 2024.
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Leader of the Opposition Mark Speakman said the Minns Labor Government is failing to back the workers New South Wales needs.
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\u201cThe Minns Labor Government promised to skill up the next generation, but instead they\u2019re letting apprenticeship numbers fall off a cliff. Every lost apprentice means another young person missing out on a career and another builder, plumber or electrician not on the tools to build the homes families need,\u201d Mr Speakman said.
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Shadow Minister for Skills, TAFE and Tertiary Education Justin Clancy said the data is a warning sign for the future of housing and jobs in New South Wales.
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\u201cYou can\u2019t fix a housing shortage when there are fewer tradespeople to build homes. In just one year Labor has gone backwards on apprenticeships,\u201d Mr Clancy said.
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\u201cThe Government talks about adding 23,000 construction apprentices, but on these figures that\u2019s simply not credible. Labor\u2019s approach is failing young people who want a trade and employers who need skilled workers. The Minns Government needs to stop the spin and start delivering real results for skills, training and housing in New South Wales.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Apprenticeship and traineeship numbers have plunged across New South Wales, worsening the state\u2019s housing crisis and leaving young people and small businesses without the skills needed to build the future.\u00a0New data from the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) shows just over 42,000 apprentices and trainees commenced in the 12 months to March 2025.\u00a0This … Continue reading “Apprenticeship collapse only worsens housing crisis under the Minns Labor Government”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nswnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35516"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35517,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35516\/revisions\/35517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}