In Western Australia, and across the country, we hear the same phrase repeated again and again: the skills shortage. It is used in policy debates, industry forums, media commentary and business conversations as though it fully explains the problem. But I would argue we need to reframe the conversation.
This is not just a shortage issue. It is a completion issue.
Australia does not simply need more people to start apprenticeships or traineeships. We need more people to finish them.
For too long, success has solely been measured by commencements. Governments announce new funding. Industries celebrate sign-ups. Employers proudly say they have taken on apprentices. All of that has value. But if too many of those apprentices fall away before completion (which more than 54% do) we are not solving the problem. We are simply creating movement at the front end of the pipeline and pretending it is a workforce strategy.
An apprentice who quits in the first year does not become a qualified tradesperson. They do not ease labour market pressure. They do not strengthen our construction, manufacturing or infrastructure sectors. They become another example of wasted potential in a system that too often focuses on attraction and not enough on retention.
That is why the conversation has to change.
If we are serious about building the workforce of the future, then completion and the apprentice journey must become the metric that matters most.
This requires a more mature understanding of what apprenticeship success actually looks like. It is not enough to put a young person into a hard hat, hand them a contract and hope for the best.
Apprentices, particularly younger ones, need structure, consistency and support. They need good supervision. They need psychologically safe workplaces. They need clarity about expectations. And many need practical pastoral care when life, transport, money pressures or workplace challenges start to knock them off course.
Some still dismiss that kind of support as soft. It is not soft. It is smart.
Pastoral care, mentoring and early intervention should not just be add-ons to the apprenticeship system, but baked into it. If we know apprentices are vulnerable to dropping out because of poor workplace culture, lack of support or personal instability, then addressing those factors is not charity. It is workforce development.
This is also where group training organisations have an important role to play. The best of them have a lot higher completion rates, anywhere from 60 – 90% and do more than employ apprentices and place them with host businesses. They monitor progress, step in early when problems arise, support both host employers and apprentices, and create a stronger safety net around the employment relationship. That matters, because many employers want to do the right thing but do not always have the internal resources, time or expertise to manage every challenge an apprentice may face.
In WA we have a State Government with a firm understanding of this reality and it has relaunched its GTO Wage Subsidy for businesses taking an apprentice through a GTO, as of 1 July.
The Construction Training Fund also funds a variety of other financial and mentoring initiatives designed to help apprentices stay in construction and not move to other, more short-term, opportunities.
This is excellent for the construction industry as it looks to fix the housing shortage, but what about manufacturing? Hospitality? Health? Aged Care?
We should absolutely keep talking about workforce shortages. But we should stop talking as though shortage is the whole story.
The real question is not how many apprentices or trainees we can sign up. It is how many we can guide, support and retain all the way to qualification.
If we want more skilled workers, we must stop obsessing over starts and start taking completion seriously. That is where the real workforce challenge lies, and that is where the real solution begins.
