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Apprentice and trainee outcomes 2025 is now published in a more accessible and flexible format. Users can download visualisations, filter results by trade and non-trade occupation, and switch between charts and tables.
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Purpose
This product provides a summary of the outcomes of apprentices and trainees who undertook an apprenticeship or traineeship during 2024. The 2025 survey results are based on the responses of 24,291 apprentices and trainees, collected between June and August 2025, as part of the National Student Outcomes Survey.The report presents findings from two student groups:
- Completers - who completed their apprenticeship or traineeship
- Non-completers - who cancelled or withdrew from their apprenticeship or traineeship.
Additional data are available in the Databuilder.
Report
Reason for undertaking an apprenticeship or traineeship
Employment-related reasons were the primary motivation for undertaking training, reported by over half of completers (56.2%) and non-completers (60.3%). Training-related reasons were the next most common, at 37.4% for completers and 29.9% for non-completers.The most frequently cited reason for training was that individuals ‘wanted to work in that type of job’. This reason was more prevalent among trade apprentices and trainees, with 40.7% of trade completers and 42.2% of trade non-completers reporting this reason, compared with around one-quarter of non-trade completers (25.6%) and non-completers (24.6%).
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A graph listing the reported main reasons for undertaking training an apprenticeship or traineeship. Reasons are sorted by most commonly reported in 2025. The length of bars indicates the proportion of students that reported the reason.
Reason for not completing an apprenticeship or traineeship
The main reasons apprentices and trainees did not complete their training differed slightly between trade and non-trade occupations.
For trade occupations, the most commonly cited reason was dissatisfaction with pay, working conditions or the workplace (27.7%), followed by personal reasons (19.8%). In contrast, among non-trade occupations, personal reasons were the leading factor (26.3%), while dissatisfaction with pay, working conditions or the workplace was the second most common reason (24.7%).
Common personal reasons cited for not completing training were:
- illness or health reasons, cited by 8.7% of trade and 7.9% of non-trade students
- family reasons, cited by 5.4% of trade and 7.9% of non-trade students.
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A graph listing the reported main reasons for not completing an apprenticeship or traineeship for 2025. Reasons are sorted by most commonly reported in 2025. The length of bars indicates how frequently they were reported.
Students who did not complete their training were asked what changes were needed to encourage completion. Their work situation was the most commonly mentioned reason, cited by 34.6% of those in trade occupations and 31.7% of those in non-trade occupations. This was followed by their personal situation, cited by 21.5% of trade non-completers and 22.3% of those not completing their non-trade apprenticeships or traineeships. In contrast, 15.6% of those in trades and 15.2% of those in non-trades reported there was nothing that could have changed to encourage their completion.
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A graph showing the main change students would need to encourage completion. The length of bars indicates how frequently each change was reported.
Outcomes of training
In 2025, employment outcomes after training differed across trade and non-trade apprentices and trainees, with higher employment rates observed among completers than non-completers.
Among trade apprentices and trainees, 94.8% of completers and 80.8% of non-completers were employed after training, similar to 2024. Close to three-quarters of trade completers (73.7%) were employed in the same occupational group as their apprenticeship or traineeship, while 15.0% were employed in a different occupational group but found the training relevant to their job.
For non-trade apprentices and trainees, 89.2% of completers and 70.4% of non-completers were employed after training. This is similar to 2024 for completers but a decrease of 5.7 percentage points for non-completers. Among non-trade completers, 37.5% were employed in the same occupational group, while 38.2% were employed in a different occupational group where training was relevant to their job.
Students engaging in further study after training varied across student groups and occupations, with those who completed a non-trade apprenticeship or traineeship most likely to undertake further study, and increasing since 2024.
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A graph listing the proportion of students’ employment and further study outcomes from 2022 to 2025.
The highest rates of trade completers working in the same occupation as their training were found in Electrotechnology and Telecommunications Trades Workers (83.2%), Construction Trades Workers (78.7%) and Automotive and Engineering Trades Workers (77.2%). For completers from non-trade occupations, the highest rates were for Community and Personal Services Workers (48.4%), Machinery Operators and Drivers (45.5%) and Sales workers (44.3%).
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A graph listing the proportions on relevance of training by trade and non-trade occupation groups for 2025.
In 2025, 19.6% of employed trade completers and 25.2% of employed non-trade completers were looking for another job. Low pay was the most common reason, cited by nearly a third of those who undertook training in trade occupations (32.9%) and a quarter (25.2%) of those whose training was in a non-trade area.
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A graph listing main reasons completers were looking for another job by trade and non-trade occupations in 2025.
Of the completers employed after training in 2025, around one-quarter were working with a different employer to their apprenticeship or traineeship, including 28.8% of trade completers and 23.9% of non-trade completers. Among employed non-completers, approximately two-thirds were employed with a different employer, including 65.3% of trade non-completers and 70.3% of non-trade non-completers.
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A graph listing the percentages of students employed with a different employer to apprenticeship/traineeship by trade and non-trade occupations, 2022 to 2025.
Being offered a better job was the most common reason apprentices and trainees changed employers after training, as reported by 24.6% of employed trade completers and 22.9% for non-trade.
While this was also the most common reason for non-completers, poor working conditions was also a commonly cited reason.
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A graph listing the main reasons students were employed with a different employer after their training by trade and non-trade occupations, 2022 to 2025.
Satisfaction with training
In 2025, 9 in 10 students who completed an apprenticeship or traineeship reported being satisfied with the skills learnt on-the-job. However, satisfaction among trade and non-trade students who did not complete was lower, 78.8% and 69.8% respectively.
Satisfaction with off-the-job training also varied. While trade (85.9%) and non-trade (88.9%) completers were largely satisfied, fewer trade (71.3%) and non-trade (63.5%) students who didn’t complete were satisfied with the off-the-job training overall.
Satisfaction was similar to 2024 across all measures and student groups, except for non-trade completers, who reported higher on- and off-the job satisfaction levels in 2025.
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A graph listing the percentage of students satisfied with skills learnt on-the-job, and with the off-the-job training overall by trade and non-trade occupations, 2022 to 2025.
© Commonwealth of Australia, 2026
For details and exceptions visit the NCVER Portal.
This document should be attributed as NCVER 2026, Apprentice and trainee outcomes 2025, NCVER, Adelaide.
This work has been produced by NCVER on behalf of the Australian Government, and state and territory governments, with funding provided through the Australian Government Department of Employment and Workplace Relations.
The views and opinions expressed in this document are those of NCVER and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Australian Government or state and territory governments.
- ISSN
- 2981-9849
Published by NCVER, ABN 87 007 967 311
DataBuilder
The DataBuilder provides extensive data on apprentice’s and trainees’ reasons for training, reasons for non-completion, their employment outcomes, further study outcomes and satisfaction with the apprenticeship or traineeship. Users can filter by a selection of variables, view the margins of error (to determine the amount of certainty/error in survey estimates), and export their results.
Data dictionary
The National Student Outcomes Survey 2025 – apprentice and trainee component: data dictionary is designed to assist users of unit record files (URFs) to understand the variables in the 2025 survey. Information is also included on the previous year’s surveys. This data dictionary is provided in an online format and includes a search function and print options to help you find and export information. The information is presented across three different views (data element name, variable name and topic) to suit the needs of various users.