Young people and job seekers are set to receive free vocational education training (VET) opportunities as part of a new joint JobTrainer plan from the ACT and Federal Governments.
Skills Canberra said the Governments had committed $8.375 million each to the program, bringing total funding for free training places to $16.75 million.
Minister for Tertiary Education, Chris Steel said it was clear the pandemic had been hard felt by younger Canberrans as well as people across a wide range of industries who’d lost jobs.
“Young people have been hit hard by COVID-19, with many of those leaving school unsure about what the future holds,” Mr Steel said.
“This free training will help young people to get the skills they need to get into a job,” he said.
“There are 11,000 Canberrans who are unemployed and this skills funding will support them to retrain and get back into the workforce as soon as possible.”
“By signing up to JobTrainer, young people and job seekers will get access to free training in a mix of full qualifications and Skill Sets in areas of employment growth and skills need, opening up a whole new range of possibilities.”
Mr Steel said JobTrainer would go toward expanding the SPARK Ginninderry training and employment initiative and support additional free training at the Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT).
“Through our industry consultation we identified areas of skills needs and occupations in high growth and emerging high value industries in the ACT,” he said.
“There is a wide range of training available and I encourage young people and job seekers to take up this opportunity get into training with this unprecedented VET support.”
Mr Steel said the program would deliver approximately 3,500 extra training places in community services; healthcare; renewable energy and sustainability; digital and cyber security; construction; and hospitality.
Skills Canberra said the first free JobTrainer places would be made available this October.
