A person completes a trade apprenticeship

Attrition for the 2021 trade cohort was 42 per cent, the highest in more than a decade, and 17 per cent of the previous cohort left within the first year. The money is weighted toward commencement. The losses are at the start, for reasons about pay and conditions.

educationA four-year trade apprenticeship in a priority occupation, from signing a training contract to a completed qualification draft compare across jurisdictions

1296 days elapsed
longest dependent chain

9 discrete steps
across 3 bodies

0% waiting on availability
scheduling or queue, not assessment

365 days saved by concurrency
vs. 1661 if run end-to-end

Where the time goes

Critical-path days only. Steps that run alongside others are real work but do not lengthen the process, so counting them here would overstate the prize.

assessment	820d	Someone is genuinely evaluating the merits.
applicant	296d	Waiting on the applicant to supply or fix something.
third party	90d	Waiting on an external body outside the regulator's control.
statutory	90d	A legislated period that must elapse regardless of readiness.

The process, step by step

Applies when: A person is employed as an apprentice under a registered training contract.

#	Step	Who	Why it waits	Clock	Typical	Basis
1	Find an employer willing to take an apprentice application	—	third party	—	90 estimate	—
2	Sign and lodge the training contract registration The employer and apprentice sign a training contract, which is lodged with the state training authority. after Find an employer willing to take an apprentice 1185d slack	Australian Apprenticeship Support Services	applicant	—	21 estimate	—
3	State training authority approves the contract decision after Sign and lodge the training contract 1155d slack	NSW state training authority	assessment	—	30 estimate	—
4	Probation period assessment A period during which either party may end the contract more easily. Both sides are deciding whether the placement fits. after State training authority approves the contract 1065d slack	—	statutory	—	90 estimate	—
5	First year application The year in which most of the attrition happens. after Probation period 790d slack	—	applicant	—	275 reported	—
6	Off-the-job training with a registered training organisation assessment Block or day release training toward the qualification. after First year 60d slack	Australian Skills Quality Authority	assessment	—	730 estimate	—
7	On-the-job competency and supervision assessment Workplace competency development and sign-off against the training plan. after First year 425d slack	—	assessment	—	365 estimate	—
8	Completion and qualification issued certification after Off-the-job training with a registered training organisation, On-the-job competency and supervision	Australian Skills Quality Authority	assessment	—	60 reported	—
9	Incentive payments received in instalments fee only if triggered Up to $10,000 to the apprentice under the Key Apprenticeship Program, paid in instalments across the apprenticeship. Triggered when: The apprenticeship is in a priority occupation eligible for the Key Apprenticeship Program or the priority occupation incentive. after State training authority approves the contract	Australian Apprenticeship Support Services	statutory	—	1460 published	—

on the critical path scheduling/queue = delay not caused by the assessment itself

Machine-flagged questions

These are produced automatically from the dependency graph. They are questions for a practitioner, not findings. Each one needs a person who has run this process to say whether the constraint is real.

Steps that may not need to wait

Incentive payments received in instalments is a fee queued behind work by a different body. Does it consume that body's output, or is it merely sequenced that way by habit?

Proposed changes

An apprentice living away from home gets $120 a week; a student on placement gets $338.60 threshold
Two Commonwealth instruments support people who must be somewhere in order to train. The Living Away From Home Allowance pays up to $120 a week in an apprentice's first year. The Commonwealth Prac Payment pays $338.60 a week, benchmarked to Austudy.
The incentives are spread over four years and the losses are in the first one resequence
Trade attrition for the 2021 cohort was 42 per cent, the highest in more than a decade, and 17 per cent of the previous cohort left within the first year. Apprentice incentives are paid in instalments across four years, weighted toward commencement.

Sources

NCVER, apprentice and trainee completion rates: 4-year trade attrition of 42.1 per cent for the 2021 commencing cohort, the highest in more than a decade, with 43 per cent completing within four years; non-trade attrition at a record 56 per cent
NCVER: 17.2 per cent of trade apprenticeships in the 2020 commencing cohort ended without completion within the first year, against 30.3 per cent of non-trade; common reasons for leaving included dissatisfaction with pay or working conditions
DEWR, Key Apprenticeship Program factsheet: up to $15,000 per apprenticeship, $10,000 apprentice and $5,000 employer, for commencements from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2026
Australian Apprenticeship Support Loans up to $25,983 for 2025-26; Living Away From Home Allowance up to $120 per week in the first year
Strategic Review of the Australian Apprenticeship Incentive System, 2024

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