New data by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research shows that Australian Apprenticeship commencements have continued to decrease in the year ending June 2017, with 163,985 commencements. This was a 2.9% decline from the 12 months to June 2017. This decrease has predominantly been in trade apprenticeships, which decreased 6.3% from 2016. Non-trade apprenticeships and traineeships remained relatively stable, with a decrease of 0.1%.
Comparing trade and non-trade apprenticeships for males and females, shown in the graph below, we see that more females commence in non-trade apprenticeships, while males have higher commencements in trade apprenticeships. There is a large difference in the number of commencements in trade apprenticeships between males and females, however the gap has been slowly closing over the past 5 years.
Trade apprenticeships include areas such as plumbing, carpentry, electrical and hairdressing. The only female dominated trade is Hairdressing, while the others remain male dominated.