The number of people choosing to take up apprenticeships and traineeships has plummeted by a third since the Coalition took office, according to data from the Department of Education.

Nationwide, the number of apprentices and trainees fell by more than 33 per cent between September 2013 and March 2019. In South Australia that figure is more than 50 per cent.

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Whatsapp Nationally, the number of apprenticeships and traineeships has declined sharply since 2013.

"Under the last Labor Government numbers of apprentices and trainees never really dropped below around 400,000," Shadow Education Minister Tanya Plibersek said.

"Under this Government they've been hovering around 270,000 and that's just not acceptable."

Have you recently taken up an apprenticeship or traineeship? We want to hear about your experience. Send us a DM or email Hack@abc.net.au.

Ms Plibersek said the plummeting number of apprentices and trainees has impeded economic growth.

"We've got examples of businesses across the board that say, 'We could grow, but we don't have the skilled staff we need'," she said.

Chief Executive of the Australian Industry Group, Innes Willox, told Hack that any dip in apprenticeships and trainees was "a cause for concern" for businesses.

"This decline has been occurring for over a decade. This decline needs to be seen in the context of Ai Group's Workforce Development Needs Survey which identified that 75 per cent of employers are experiencing skill shortages," he said.

"Considerable effort from all levels and all sides of government need to happen urgently to build the pipeline of skilled labour."

Funding cuts to the sector

Ms Plibersek said the suggestion that young people were shunning trades in favour of more prestigious jobs because of their reputation, was "offensive".

"I'm a parent of three kids. If one of my kids said they wanted to be a plumber I'd be absolutely delighted - my dad was a plumber, it's a great job, you can support a family very well on a trades job like that," she said.

Instead, she said the drop in numbers was a result of "$3 billion in funding cuts to TAFE" and an underspend of another $1 billion in projects designed to bolster vocational education.

The Morrison Government is committed to investing in our skills system and supporting the creation of more apprentices and a skilled workforce.

A spokesperson for Skills Minister Michaelia Cash denied that, saying the Federal Government was putting $585 million towards vocational education.

"The Government's skills package is investing in new initiatives to support the creation of 80,000 apprentices over five years."

The package includes more than $200 million in incentives and other programs for employers to take on apprentices, and $60 million in wage subsidies for the apprentices themselves.

"Anthony Albanese and Tanya Plibersek sat around the cabinet table when apprenticeships fell by 110,000 in a single year between June 2012 and June 2013 - the biggest annual fall on record," the spokesperson said.

"We are still cleaning up the mess Labor left behind in our vocational education sector through their VET FEE HELP debacle which saw thousands of Australians receiving dodgy qualifications from shonky providers and being saddled with large loans."

TAFE enrolments around the country have fallen dramatically recently. According to the Mitchell Institute at Victoria University, they're down by 260,000 (or 23 per cent) in the past five years.

While TAFE funding is a state and territory responsibility, the student loans system comes out of the Commonwealth budget.

Successive federal governments have made sweeping changes to the vocational education student loan system known as VET FEE HELP, which some experts say is contributing to reputational damage for the sector.