State data has revealed that trainee and apprentice numbers are on the rise in a post-pandemic world, and Western NSW could be in the best position to match employee to employer. 

According to data from the National Centre for Vocational Education and Research (NCVER), NSW has seen a 29 per cent increase on the previous year when it comes to people in training. 

Nyngan High School Careers Advisor and VET Coordinator Noelene Walsh said that in recent years, she’s seen an increase of local employers who are seeing the benefit in a trainee or apprentice. 

“The employers are realising that to keep an employee longer, you need to train them and once you train them, they’re going to stay around longer…Employers are coming on board knowing that if they want the employee they want, they need to invest in them,” Mrs Walsh said. 

While the small size of the school could offer a setback in comparison to the number of students available to employers in the city, Mrs Walsh argues that their size puts them at an advantage.

“It’s a small school and I’ve been doing this job for a whole. I know the employers and I wouldn’t put the wrong student onto them because I know the students well enough too,” she said. 

The other major finding from the data - where there has been a 58 per cent increase in females commencing traineeships - also rings true in Nyngan. The types of roles they are filling however, don’t veer too far from tradition.

“I’ve got girls in traineeships with early learning and the hospital. They are sticking to the traditional male/female dominant employment areas, however there is definitely a lot more (girls) going for them,” Mrs Walsh said. 

Size is no barrier to a successful apprenticeship according to Nyngan High School Careers Advisor Noelene Walsh.

Perhaps recognising the trend or wanting to encourage it more, the Government has announced 100,000 fee-free apprenticeships and 70,000 fee-free traineeships to address industry needs and skill shortages. 

Mrs Walsh said, however, that while people don’t like to turn down incentives, it would be problematic to encourage the wrong employer to apply. 

“It doesn’t matter how much incentives you offer, if their business isn’t big enough to cope with more than one apprentice they’d be doing themselves and the student an injustice taking them out,” she said.

“People don’t realise how much work it is for an employee to take on an apprentice too. They’ve got to make a big commitment of time and effort to train that person, it’s not a matter of just signing on the dotted line and throwing them out to work.”

The fee-free apprenticeships and traineeships will be available to schools participating in the Educational Pathways Program, however eligible schools within Western NSW are few and far between.

The program will expand to an additional 120 schools to increase the opportunity for school-based apprenticeships and traineeships. The chosen participating schools are yet to be announced.