The Australian Government will invest $2 billion to provide hundreds of thousands of Australians with access to new skills by retraining and upskilling them into sectors with job opportunities, as the economy recovers from COVID-19.
The JobTrainer package has two aspects to it.
The first aspect of the package, which is worth $1.5 billion, is aimed at keeping employed those already in apprenticeships and traineeships. Eligibility has been extended to medium-sized businesses with 199 employees or fewer who employed an apprentice as of 1 July 2020.
This subsidy will be made available to expand and extend the Supporting Apprentices and Trainees wage subsidy until March 2021. This will cover an anticipated 50% of the wages of apprentices and trainees.
The second aspect of JobTrainer is aimed at school leavers and those looking for work. The federal government has allocated $500 million to provide Complimentary or low cost vocational education and training courses in places of identified skills needs. That funding is conditional on matching funds from state and territory governments.
The JobTrainer fund is anticipated to provide for around 340,700 additional training places to help school leavers and job seekers gain the skills they need to get a job.
Further information about these changes will be made available in the coming weeks.
Source: https://www.dese.gov.au/news/jobtrainer-skills-package-announced
