Canberra apprentice numbers drop nearly 30 per cent in two years

A list of apprentices in federal electorates, obtained under freedom of information laws, reveals Canberra is among the regions hardest hit by the shortage of trainee workers.

In Fenner, held by Labor's Andrew Leigh, the number of apprentices has fallen 27 per cent from 2321 positions in December 2013, to 1683 in December 2015.

The drop is greater south of the lake in Labor MP Gai Brodtmann's seat of Canberra, where apprentice numbers fell34 per cent from 3764 to 2480.

The marginal seat of Eden-Monaro, held by Assistant Finance Minister Peter Hendy, recorded a 29 per cent drop in apprentice numbers.

National Electrical and Communications Association chief executive Suresh Manickam said there were numerous reasons for the decline.

"We've moved away from career advisers in school who are able to tell kids whether they should pick up a trade or head to university," he said. "That's a real problem."

"There has been a push for far too long to stick kids in university after school, but if they are only going there to get an arts degree or join the thousands of others studying law then where is the value?"

Shane Dealy, a 22-year-old carpentry apprentice working for his father's business, dropped out of an engineering course at university to develop a trade.

"I definitely felt the pressure to go to university after school and I found a lot of people look down on trade school like it was something people did if they couldn't get into uni," he said.

"Many of my friends have asked me what it's like dropping out to do a trade and I've told them I've got no regrets. One is now doing a plumbing apprenticeship and another is in carpentry."

Mr Dealy said only eight of 20 apprentices in his class completed their training, with many struggling to adapt to new work and financial pressures.

"Job security is a big issue for a lot of apprentices as you can have a job one day and then it's gone the next," he said. "If things get tough it's often the apprentice who goes first."

"Some get treated pretty badly on the job and told to look for left-handed screwdrivers. For others, the work is not quite what they expected."

Opposition spokeswoman for vocational education Sharon Bird has blamed the Coalition government for the decline in apprentices, saying it cut $1 billion from apprenticeship programs since 2013.

"It is vital that we train and retrain our workforce to deliver on improving the participation, productivity, innovation and growth efforts required for the nation," she said.

National Centre for Vocation Education and Research managing director Craig Fowler said the decline correlated with the decision to remove inventive payments.

"These incentives were usually paid at the commencement or completion of an apprenticeship although they were really wage incentives to offset the costs of employing a junior," he said.

Mr Fowler said there were numerous causes for the shortage including the unemployment rate and business confidence.

Fiona Mitchell, director of skills and vocational learning at the Canberra Institute of Technology, said apprentice numbers had remained steady and were determined on industry demand.

But Mr Manickam said many had noticed the decline and the industry needed to encourage more mature-age and women apprentices to fill the shortage.

"We need to do something about these issues urgently," he said. "We are still not attracting enough women and if we are only attracting half of the available workforce then that's a problem."