Employers' use and views of the VET system 2025

Purpose

This publication summarises Australian employers’ use and views of the vocational education and training (VET) system, and focuses on employer engagement and satisfaction with both accredited and unaccredited training.

The findings are derived from the 2025 Survey of Employers’ Use and Views of the VET System, a biennial survey that collects information on the various ways employers meet their skill needs and their satisfaction with the training.

The survey was conducted between March and July 2025, and the results presented below reflect employers’ training experiences over the previous 12 months. The 2025 survey also collected new information on employers’ use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and tools within their organisations.

For full results by state and territory, employer size, and industry, refer to the accompanying data tables.

Report

Employers’ use of training

Australian employers continue to invest in developing the skills of their workforce through a range of training approaches, including both accredited and unaccredited options. Accredited training may include providing staff with nationally recognised training, or the employment of apprentices and trainees, or staff with vocational qualifications. Employers may also use unaccredited or informal on-the-job training to address skills needs.

In 2025:

• 57.0% of employers used accredited training, similar to 2023.
• 50.9% provided unaccredited training, down 3.5 percentage points from 2023.
• 79.0% provided informal training, down 2.2 percentage points from 2023.
• 10.2% did not provide any training, similar to 2023.

Of the employers who did not provide any training in the last 12 months, the top reasons were:

• Current employees are adequately trained (52.8%)
• No need/not relevant to our organisation (46.0%).

Use and satisfaction with different types of training

The proportion of employers engaging with nationally recognised training has been steadily increasing over recent years, reaching 32.1% in 2025. Among these employers, 76.1% were satisfied that the training provided employees the skills needed for the job, similar to 2023 levels, but lower than those seen over the preceding decade.

Nationally, the proportion of employers with apprentices or trainees decreased by 2.6 percentage points since 2023. Despite this decline, apprenticeships and traineeships remain an important pathway for developing skilled workers, with over a quarter of employers (28.7%) reporting they had apprentices or trainees in 2025.

The majority of employers were satisfied with both nationally recognised training and apprenticeships and traineeships. Of those who were dissatisfied, the main reasons were either that the training was of poor quality or low standard, or that relevant skills were not taught.

Vocational qualifications continue to play an important role in providing skilled workers across Australia, with 38.6% of employers reporting having jobs that required a vocational qualification in 2025, similar to 2023.

In 2025, just over half of employers (50.9%) provided unaccredited training to their employees. Of these, 63.3% said there was no comparable nationally recognised training available. A further 13.9% chose unaccredited training even though comparable nationally recognised courses existed. The top reasons were that the unaccredited training was tailored to their specific needs, the course content was suitable, and the training was convenient or had flexible scheduling.

Main training providers used to conduct training

In 2025, there were notable shifts in the types of providers used to conduct nationally recognised training. The proportion of employers using TAFE institutes rose to 26.2% in 2025, up 9.5 percentage points from 2023. Private training providers remained the most commonly used, with 49.1% of employers using them in 2025, similar to 2023.

Of the employers who used private training organisations as their main provider of nationally recognised training, the top reasons for doing so were the convenience of access or location, flexible times, or that the content of the training course was suitable.

Of employers with apprentices and trainees, 59.1% used TAFE institutes as their main training provider in 2025, with the main reasons being it was the only suitable provider available, the content of the training course was appropriate, or convenience of access or location.

Over half of the Australian employers who used unaccredited training in 2025 did not use an external provider (54.2%), similar to 2023, suggesting that much of this training is conducted internally.

Employers’ use and perceptions of AI

Nationally, four in ten employers (39.8%) used AI technologies or tools for work purposes, with more than half (58.1%) adopting them within the last 12 months.

AI uptake varied considerably across industries, reflecting the different types of work undertaken in each sector. For example, nearly four in five employers in Information Media and Telecommunications (78.4%) reported using AI, compared with just over one-quarter in Accommodation and Food Services (28.1%).

Employer size was also a factor, with a higher proportion of large employers reporting using AI compared with small employers.

Among AI users, chatbots such as ChatGPT, Copilot and Gemini were by far the most common, used by almost 90% of employers. Around one-third (31.8%) also used other types of AI tools, most commonly:

• Image or video generation and editing software (8.1%)
• Speech, image or video recognition tools (7.5%).

Almost all employers who used AI technologies (93.8%) reported that it had helped their organisation. The most common ways were increased efficiency (63.9%) and improved quality of work (45.7%), highlighting AI’s growing role in enhancing workplace productivity and performance.

Just over a quarter of employers (26.8%) provided some form of training in AI technologies. Of these employers:

• 3.7% provided nationally recognised training
• 29.4% provided unaccredited training
• 80.6% delivered informal training.

This suggests that while nationally accredited training in AI technologies remains limited, most employers are supporting staff through unaccredited training and informal learning opportunities to build AI-related skills.

Barriers to using AI at work were reported by 69.5% of all employers, including both those already using AI and those yet to adopt it.

Of employers that had not used AI in the last 12 months, the most common barrier reported was that it was not relevant to their organisation (49.6%).

Over 4 in 10 employers indicated that they would make changes in the next 12 months to use AI technologies, including both those already using AI and those yet to adopt it.

Of employers that had used AI in the last 12 months, some of the most common changes reported included training current staff in AI technologies, improving IT/computing infrastructure, and changing workplans or workflows.