Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business Senator Michaelia Cash announced a $2 billion investment into jobs on July 16.
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So what does this new scheme mean for employers, state and territory governments, apprentices, school leavers and job seekers?
What does the investment cover?
The investment has two main purposes.
The first is to keep people who are already apprentices or trainees in work.
The second is to provide training for people who are either new to the workforce, or wishing to reskill - this is JobTrainer.
$1.5 billion is allocated to maintaining apprentices and trainees who are already employed. The money will go towards wage subsidies.
The remaining $500 million from the federal government will go to JobTrainer which will fund vocational education and training. However this money will only be accessible to states and territories if they match the federal government's funding.
Recap: JobTrainer is a $1 billion dollar investment divided between by the federal government and states. Additionally the federal government will invest $1.5 billion to a wage subsidies for apprentices - separate to JobTrainer.
What is the role of the states?
An interesting part of the JobTrainer program is that the federal government wants to use it as a tool to reform and streamline the funding of Vocational Education and Training (VET).
To get their share of the $500 million to go toward TAFE and other training programs states and territories must match the federal government's funding.
By taking the money, states and territories will need to commit to a new Heads of Agreement on the VET sector. The details of the Heads Of Agreement have not been released yet.
Which businesses are eligible for wage subsidies?
Small and medium businesses with up to 199 employees who had an apprentice at the time of July 1, are eligible for wage subsidies to support their apprentices or trainees.
The wage subsidy will cover 50 per cent of the wages for apprentices, up to $7000 per quarter. This subsidy applies to apprentices who were employed on July 1 2020.
This system will be administered through the Australian Apprenticeship Support Network (AASN). Businesses must contact their local AASN to apply for the subsidy.
This wage subsidy is an extension of the "Supporting Apprentices and Trainees" program.
Under that program 81,000 apprentices and trainees who are employed by 47,000 employers had their wages subsidised.
With the extension of the subsidy, the federal government aims to increase the number of apprentices to 180,000 across 90,000 businesses.
Unlike JobKeeper, businesses do not need to prove a loss of revenue to be eligible.
What industries are getting a boost?
The newly formed National Skills Commission has identified health care, transport, retail trade, wholesale trade, manufacturing, postal and warehousing as growing sectors in need of a boost.
However the needs for different types of skills will change from region to region and over time.
When announcing JobTrainer, Morrison alluded to the possibility that the economy during, and after, the COVID-19 crisis would radically change the need for different skills.
"The jobs and skills we'll need as we come out of the crisis are not likely to be the same as those that were lost." he said.
How much will education and training courses cost?
Exact dollar figures for these new training courses have not yet been released.
However we should expect a mixture of free and low-cost courses to be announced before September.
The details of the courses on offer will be negotiated by states, with the courses delivered by a mix of TAFEs and other registered training organisations.
This includes public, not-for-profit and for private education providers.
Some of these courses may be short courses, including "skill sets". These are not a full qualifications but are stepping stones to further education, training or apprenticeships.
What are the concerns?
There will be more details about JobTrainer to come as states and territories negotiate what this will mean to them.
Policy Fellow at the Mitchell Institute Peter Hurley notes in his article on The Conversation that JobTrainer does not include incentives for employers to take on more apprentices.
Mr Hurley said that the scheme is unlikely to save all apprenticeships, but was "welcome assistance to keep those losses to a minimum."
Vocational education and training has long been a sore spot for funding and legislation.
The sector has been subject to a number of investigations over the last decade regarding corruption.
This includes IBAC's Operation Lansdowne in which examined serious allegations of corruption in the Victorian vocational education system.
A number of reports have been made to identify issues and remedies of the VET system including the Joyce Review into the sector was released in April 2019.
Steven Joyce, a former New-Zealand minister for tertiary education, skills and employment gave 71 recommendations to improve the VET sector.
Will the new Heads Of Agreement attached be able to remedy these issues?