VET News

Positive Trends in Employment Shown for 2022's International VET Completers

The latest report from the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) shows that in mid-2022, 83.0% of international onshore VET qualification completers were employed after training, an increase of 7.5 percentage points from the previous year.

International students mainly undertook training in Australia for employment-related reasons (72.3%), with the most cited reason being to develop or start their own business (23.0%).

The report also shows that the percentage of international onshore VET qualification completers reporting an improved employment status after training increased by 8.9 percentage points from 2021, reaching 73%.

Before beginning their training in Australia, 76.1% of international VET qualification completers held a job. Of these, 18.9% were employed at a higher skill level, and 41.3% were employed in a better job after training, up 4.4 and 4.8 percentage points, respectively from 2021.

Those who did not have a job before training experienced significant improvements in their employment outcomes.

NCVER Managing Director Simon Walker said, “in 2022, 66.1% of individuals who were not employed before training secured a job afterwards, which represents an increase of 7.4 percentage points from 2021, and 21.5 percentage points from 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic”.

Despite the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on the job market, a higher proportion of international onshore VET students were employed in Australia after training in 2022 than over the previous four years.

Mr Walker stated that the increase in employment opportunities for international VET students coincided with the easing of COVID-19 border restrictions in Australia and the removal of the limit on student visa holders’ working hours in 2022.

Download the International Onshore VET Qualification Completer Outcomes 2022 report here.

Date posted May 4, 2023