The Morrison Government will invest $2 billion to give hundreds of thousands of Australians access to new skills by retraining and upskilling them into sectors with job opportunities, as the economy recovers from COVID-19.

The JobTrainer skills package will also guarantee support for thousands of apprentices in jobs across the country by subsidising their wages to keep them employed and their training secured.

The new $1 billion JobTrainer program will provide up to an additional 340,700 training places to help school leavers and job seekers access short and long courses to develop new skills in growth sectors and create a pathway to more qualifications.

Courses will be free or low cost in areas of identified need, with the Federal Government providing $500 million with matched contributions from state and territory governments.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the JobTrainer package was focused on getting people into jobs.

“JobTrainer will ensure more Australians have the chance to reskill or upskill to fill the jobs on the other side of this crisis,” the Prime Minister said.

“COVID-19 is unprecedented but I want Australians to be ready for the sorts of jobs that will come as we build back and recover.

“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.”

The package also includes an additional $1.5 billion to expand the wage incentive to help keep apprentices in work. It builds on the initial $1.3 billion package announced in March.

In addition to small businesses already covered, the wage subsidy will now be available to medium businesses with less than 200 employees for apprentices employed as at 1 July 2020. Around 180,000 apprentices and 90,000 small and medium businesses that employ them will now be supported, with the program extended by six months to March 2021.

The initiative covers 50 per cent of the wages paid to apprentices and trainees, up to $7,000 per quarter.

The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Kate Carnell has welcomed the JobTrainer skills package, saying it will deliver the skilled workers that SMEs need.

The JobTrainer package will support SMEs employing apprentices and trainees with a 50% wage subsidy, up to $7,000 per quarter.

“This is an excellent initiative that shows the government is responding to the needs of SMEs,” Ms Carnell says.

“This program expansion will mean up to 90,000 SMEs will be supported in keeping their apprentices and trainees in work.”

“Importantly, this program is offering free or low-cost training to people in fields of study where jobs are available,” Ms Carnell says.

“It also provides SMEs with the skilled workers they need right now.

“As our COVID-19 Recovery Plan points out, small businesses consistently report that availability of suitable labour remains a major challenge. This problem has been even more pronounced in regional and remote areas.

“JobTrainer addresses these issues as well as the fact that the jobs and skills SMEs will need coming out of this crisis will likely be different to those that have already been lost.

“The package will provide school leavers with a pathway to practical qualifications and older people out of work with the opportunity to retrain at very little or no cost.  

“The measures announced today will be a significant contribution to our national economic recovery.”

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