Apprentice subsidy will struggle for take up in Aust printing industry

A key plank of the federal government’s economic stimulus to keep Australia out of recession is paying half the wage of apprentices working in small businesses with less than 20 staff, but with increasingly fewer print apprentices coming onboard it will be hard for many small to medium sized printers to benefit from this assistance.

The federal government announced yesterday it will spend $1.3 billion subsidising the wages of 117,000 apprentices across the country to help with cash flow for SMEs facing tough conditions brought on by COVID-19. The support forms part of its $17.6 billion economic stimulus package.

This is no doubt a great initiative, but many printing companies will not be eligible for this subsidy even though they employ large numbers of young people who receive ongoing training on the job , but are not technically an apprentice or trainee.

Sprinter has spoken to a number of printers who either struggle to find young people willing to work in the industry or when they do, the content offered through a traditional apprentice program doesn’t provide them with the tools they need for their specific jobs.

Ongoing changes in digital technology also mean many employees need specific training on specific machinery, which in most cases is handled by suppliers with limited prior knowledge needed, particularly in the digital print space.

Bambra Press, a large commercial print business in Melbourne that covers offset, digital and wide format print, has not currently got an apprentice on the books but does have employees who need to be trained on specific machinery from time to time, while not technically being an apprentice.

“I don’t know anyone with an apprentice whether they are over 20 or under 20 staff,” Bambra Press owner John Wanless told Sprinter.

“We are training people all the time but there is no apprenticeship they can do that is actually worthwhile for their specific tasks.

“I think in the industry apprenticeships are redundant because training is specific to a brand of machine, and we train all the time. You can get people to be competent in their roles in a short period of time and vendors like Currie will do the training for HP whereas 30 years ago that would have been done in a trade school. It is interesting where this is going.

“For a young person to spend time doing theory and training on a machine that he or she will never run is a bit redundant, really.”

Print and Visual Communication Association CEO Andrew Macaulay said the restricted nature of the apprentice subsidy means few printers will be eligible for it.

“We have written to the government saying that assistance with driving recruitment and costs of apprentice hiring would be more beneficial as a stimulus,” Macaulay told Sprinter.

“Many printers want apprentices but they cannot find the apprentice to hire. So, supply needs to be fixed from the school end, support for study at TAFE needs to be the same way government supports HECS at uni, and as an economic stimulus packaging, defray hiring costs for SMEs. The current offer is parsimonious.”

James Cryer, a recruitment consultant at print industry specialist JDA, said more needs to be done to attract young people into the industry, and not just to the traditional apprenticeship pathway as sales account managers and customer facing staff are in critical demand.

“The difficulty is how many of these small businesses can actually get an apprentice in the first place,” Cryer told Sprinter.

“Printers are struggling to find any 18 or 19 year old out there who would have the slightest interest in joining the printing industry partly because they know nothing about it or they’ve got all these negative thoughts attached to it.

“But the printing industry now is leaner and bristling with technology. There’s colour management on all the presses and it is actually a very exciting industry. There is a supply problem and we have to open up the doors and windows to make it happen.”

Other measures aimed at boosting cash flow for SMEs include up to $25,000 grants which will be automatically processed through the BAS system and an increase in the asset write-off threshold from $30,000 to $150,000. This increased threshold is now also available for companies earning $500 million a year in revenue, up from $50 million.

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One thought on “Apprentice subsidy will struggle for take up in Aust printing industry

  1. Printing Industry – Please don’t give up on training and apprentices.

    There are those keen to learn our trade if only the opportunity is provided.

    Our offer and JDA Print Recruitment (Vic) still stands, to recruit apprentices at no charge if only companies will give them the opportunity.

    There is a valid apprenticeship program at Holmesglen Printing School in Melbourne.

    Apprentices don’t need to “young”. Sometimes an adult apprentice is a more realistic option.

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