News

More than 9,200 South Australians started an apprenticeship or traineeship in the 12-months up to March this year – the largest growth in numbers nationally – with more than half choosing to start a trade, or an occupation aligned to South Australia’s priority areas.

The National Centre for Vocational Education and Research (NCVER) March quarter apprentice and trainee data, released today, shows there were 9,225 commencements over the year, and 3,315 apprentice and trainee commencements in the first 3 months of 2025 – an increase of 5% compared with March 2024.

This is the largest increase in Australia and comes at a time when Australia’s commencements are down 7% across the same 3-month period.

Other highlights include:

• Trade commencements increased 7.8% to 2,040 over the same period, 9.6 percentage points above a national decline of 1.8%
• 2,210 commencements were in courses aligned to priority areas, an increase of 10.8 per cent when compared to the first three months of 2024.

Overall, there were 23,305 South Australian apprentices and trainees in-training as at 31 March 2025. 16,265 were in courses aligned to priority areas, an increase of 2.8% compared to the same time a year earlier.

Trade apprentices and trainees in-training recorded an increase of 2.6% to 16,955 as at 31 March 2025, 5.8 percentage points above the national decline of 3.2% and the highest percentage increase in the nation, and SA was the only jurisdiction to record an increase.

Of the 5,800 South Australians who completed their apprenticeship or traineeship in the year to 31 March 2025, trade completions increased 4.1% to 3,145 while 3,475 were in courses aligned to priority areas, an increase of 10.9% compared to the same period a year earlier.

The proportion of completions in courses aligned to priority areas was 59.9%, 15.6% points higher than in 2024.

Cancellations and withdrawals in the year to 31 March 2025 decreased by 21.3% to 4,145, 1,120 fewer than 2024.