The Australian Government will invest $2 billion to give hundreds of thousands of Australians access to new skills by retraining and upskilling them into sectors with job opportunities, as the economy recovers from COVID-19.
In partnership with the states and territories, more Australians will have access to free, or low cost, training places in areas of identified skills needs through the establishment of a new $1 billion JobTrainer fund.
This will include $500 million from the Australian Government this year, with a matched contribution being sought from state and territory governments.
The JobTrainer fund will provide for around 340,700 additional training places to help school leavers and job seekers gain the skills they need to get a job.
A further $1.5 billion will be made available to expand and extend the Supporting Apprentices and Trainees wage subsidy.
Eligibility for the subsidy will be expanded to include medium-sized businesses with fewer than 200 employees who had an apprentice in place on 1 July 2020.
The wage subsidy will also be extended to 31 March 2021.
Further information about these changes will be made available in the coming weeks.