Training slumps under Labor

Shadow Minister for Training Skills Apprenticeships, Steph Ryan

The training system is shrinking under Labor, with less students enrolling in apprenticeships and traineeships and fewer staff employed.
Since December 2014, the number of students in-training in Victoria has dropped 45.3 per cent, from 443,687 to 243,000 in June 2016.
Shadow Minister for Skills and Training Steph Ryan said training was a vital step-up for young Victorian struggling to find work, particularly in areas with high youth unemployment.
“Daniel Andrews’ claims of a TAFE rescue are an absolute farce,” Ms Ryan said.
“All of the measures on which Labor criticised the former Government have worsened, including falling enrolments, staff redundancies and a loss of funding for student training.
“The Victorian training system is weaker, not stronger under Labor.”
TAFE staff numbers across the state have also declined by 6.5 per cent in a year.
Victoria experienced one of the largest declines in student numbers nationally in the first half of the year.
According to the half-year training market update, there were 13.6 per cent fewer VET students studying between January and June 2016 than the year before.
In the same time period, New South Wales, the Northern Territory and Queensland increased.

Media contact: Emma Manser 0437 225 386 emma.manser@opposition.vic.gov.au