Reader's Guide
This publication presents an analysis of key labour market and skills trends in Australia followed by examples of local programmes that are working closely with employers to align skills training to labour market demand.
Chapter 1 provides an overview of the current economic context in Australia, while Chapter 2 looks at national and regional key trends in vocational education and apprenticeship participation. Chapter 3 highlights results from the OECD survey of Australian employers, carried out from October – December 2017. To this end, the OECD worked in partnership with the Department of Education and Training to identify a suitable sample from the Australia Business Register database. This survey collected information from over 400 employers across Australia – 95% of the employers responding were small and medium-sized businesses with less than 250 employees.
Chapters 4-7 provide information on four case studies that were carried out at the local level to identify strengths and weaknesses in the implementation framework of skills policies in Australia. The case study areas were selected in consultation with the Department of Education and Training, with a view to identify initial lessons from a recent initiative to improve collaboration with local industry representatives in metropolitan areas. For each case study, interviews were undertaken with stakeholders in the fields of vocational training, employment, and economic development in order to collect evidence around local actions being taken to boost participation in apprenticeship and other work-based training programmes.