As the Australian, state and territory governments position the VET sector, through the National Skills Agreement, to support Australia’s efforts to increase productivity, the annual Report on Government Services from the Productivity Commission provides important data on how the sector is changing, the experiences of students and employers, and the regulators.
While the report’s chapter on VET draws extensively on NCVER data which many VDC News readers may have seen before (on the NCVER website or even in a summary piece in VDC News), the Commission also digs into a lot of unpublished data to shine a light on a range of factors related to the operation of the VET sector.
The Commission’s report focuses on the equity, effectiveness and key outcomes for VET participants aged 15–64 years. In 2024, total government recurrent expenditure on VET services across Australia was around $8.9 billion — supporting training delivery, administration and governance activities.
A total of 1,245 RTOs delivered government-funded nationally recognised training in 2024, representing roughly one-third (32.7%) of all RTOs delivering nationally recognised training.
In terms of participation, more than 1.2 million students were enrolled in government-funded VET in 2024, with the majority (74%) studying Certificate III or IV level qualifications. This reflects the strong appetite for mid-level skills across a range of industries including the trades, health and care, and business services.
Student motivations are closely aligned with employment needs: in 2024, 73 percent of total VET completers and 74 percent of government-funded VET completers reported participation was for employment-related reasons, while around 12 percent were aiming for further study pathways and approximately 14–15 percent for personal development.
The report highlights improving outcome trends over recent years for government-funded VET qualification completers. In 2024, 86 percent of completers aged 15–64 years achieved their main reason for training, up from 82 percent in 2020. Similarly, 63 percent reported improved employment status following their training — a notable increase from 54 percent in 2020 (although we should remember that was the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic).
Student satisfaction with the overall quality of training remains high: in 2024, 90 percent of students who completed a government-funded qualification were satisfied with their training, a figure unchanged from 2020. By contrast, employer satisfaction with all forms of VET engagement was recorded at 66 percent in 2023, down slightly from 69 percent in 2019, indicating ongoing opportunities to strengthen employer engagement and relevance in some areas of the VET system.
Equity in participation and outcomes is a key reporting theme. The data shows improvements among groups traditionally facing barriers, including First Nations students, learners with disability and those living in low SES areas, indicating government-funded VET is reaching a broad cross-section of learners. Nationally, completions among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (at a higher education level than their previous highest education level) rose by 26 percent between 2020 and 2024 to 23,700, reflecting both targeted supports and broader participation growth.
While the data indicates positive trends, some issues remain, for example modest declines in employer satisfaction and continuing work to improve access to VET – although interestingly the Productivity Commission’s report show that there are higher proportions of people in major cities (2.7%) wanting to study but not being able to in the last 12 months, than in regional (1.0%) or remote communities (0.5%). This underscores the complexity of delivering equitable, high-quality training to divers students across diverse settings.
The Productivity Commission’s report describes a VET system where substantial government investment supports widespread access to nationally recognised training, strong student satisfaction and improving employment and study outcomes. The data reflects the ongoing contribution of VET to Australia’s skills pipeline and labour force participation, and the detailed data available in it provides a rich evidence base for practitioners and policymakers keen to strengthen the system’s responsiveness to industry demand and learner needs.
