Can Australian employers get the skilled workers they need?
Employers carry the consequences of every training and funding decision made in Australia's vocational education and training system. This research asks employers directly what they are experiencing when they recruit, train and try to keep skilled people.
Why employers are being asked directly
Australia's training system exists to meet the skill needs of industry. Yet when policy and funding decisions are debated, the employers who actually hire, supervise and depend on qualified workers are rarely asked what they are seeing on the ground.
I have spent more than 30 years working across Australian vocational education and training. Alongside my research into the state of the RTO sector, I want to build an equally credible picture of what employers are experiencing — the roles that stay unfilled, the apprentices who do not finish, the training that does or does not translate into capability at work.
This survey is deliberately practical. It asks about recruitment conditions, apprenticeships and traineeships, how you choose a training provider, what difference Fee-Free TAFE has made, and whether the money and time your organisation invests in training is delivering value.
The findings feed the same evidence base and parliamentary submission as The State of Australia's RTO Sector 2026, so employer experience sits alongside provider experience rather than being treated as a footnote.
7-10 minutes | Responses analysed in aggregate | Open to employers, industry associations and Group Training Organisations
What the research examines
- Recruiting skilled workers and current labour market conditions
- Apprenticeships, traineeships and completion patterns
- How employers choose between TAFE and independent RTOs
- The employer view of Fee-Free TAFE and Free TAFE
- Training investment, value for money and productivity
- Confidence in the VET system over the next three years
Who should participate?
- Business owners, directors and CEOs who employ skilled workers
- HR, People & Culture, and Learning & Development managers
- Operations managers, site supervisors and team leaders
- Industry associations and peak bodies reporting their members’ experience
- Group Training Organisations that employ and place apprentices
If you speak for an industry association, peak body or network, please answer based on the general experience your members report to you.
What happens with your answers
The core research findings will be made publicly and freely available. Responses are aggregated and de-identified before anything is published or shared.
The evidence will be used to support informed engagement with governments, regulators, industry bodies and policymakers, and it will sit alongside the provider evidence already being gathered through The State of Australia's RTO Sector 2026.
Where the research identifies significant issues affecting employers' access to skilled workers, those issues will be investigated further rather than simply described.
You can speak openly
The core survey does not require your name, email address or the name of your organisation.
Individual organisations and respondents will not be identified in published findings without express permission.
At the end of the survey, you can separately choose to:
- Receive the research findings when they are released
- Participate in a confidential follow-up interview
Providing contact information for either option is voluntary and stored separately from the core analytical survey data.
This research is being conducted by Angela Connell-Richards, with support from Vivacity Coaching & Consulting.
Also an RTO, TAFE staff member or VET consultant? Complete The State of Australia's RTO Sector 2026 survey.
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