Apprenticeship Boost

Demographic and other statistics of accumulated Apprenticeship Boost Initiative verified learners.

Apprenticeship Boost: Budget 2024 initiative reporting

As a part of the Government’s requirements for reporting on major spending decisions, the Ministry of Education will be periodically updating the progress for Apprenticeship Boost on this web page.

Apprenticeship Boost was first introduced in August 2020 as part of the Government’s wider Apprenticeship Support Programme – a cross-agency response to help support apprentices and employers to manage the impacts of COVID-19.

Apprenticeship Boost was made permanent in Budget 2024. From 1 January 2025, Apprenticeship Boost will support first year apprentices only, in industries with identified skills shortages. You can find out more about Apprenticeship Boost and which industries are targeted on the Tertiary Education Commission and Ministry for Social Development’s websites:

Updates will be published here twice yearly, starting mid-2025, and will be assessed against the following requirements:

  1. Intended results
  1. Apprenticeship Boost will provide subsidies to employers of eligible apprentices to help keep them employed and training towards their qualification, and to incentivise employers to take on new apprentices. This initiative provides funding for targeted industries starting 1 January 2025 at $500 a month per eligible apprentice, targeted to first-year apprentices only.
  1. Deliverables and planned timeline
    1. Apprenticeship Boost will begin supporting apprentices within targeted industries from 1 January 2025 at $500 a month per eligible apprentice, targeted to first-year apprentices. This is an ongoing commitment until the review in 2027, which was agreed to by Ministers.
    2. Updates on the ongoing progress of the fund will be published here twice yearly starting in mid-2025, and this will be included in the Ministry of Education’s annual report.
  2. Amount allocated over the forecast period
    1. $64.898m was allocated in Budget 2024 over the next four years, with $22.771m forecast to be spent in the first financial year. This projection will be compared to the actual spend in the updates periodically published here and in the Ministry of Education’s annual report.
  3. Indicators of performance and value for money
    1. Number of learners being supported.
      1. Demographic make-up of learners (also published monthly below).
    2. Number of study commencements.
    3. Ongoing credit completion rate.
    4. Retention rate.

Ministry of Education annual report – Apprenticeship Boost performance indicators

The following is an excerpt from the Ministry of Education’s annual report. The full version can be found here: Ministry of Education - Annual Report 2025.

Some of the following performance indicators that take time to measure are for the previous Apprenticeship Boost Initiative (such as retention rates and ongoing completion rates).

For further information on financial performance, please see the Ministry of Social Development’s annual report, as the funding for Apprenticeship Boost is allocated through Vote Social Development.

These are the performance measures that the Ministry of Education measures:

  1. Number of learners being supported.
  2. Number of study commencements.
  3. Ongoing credit completion rate.
  4. Retention rate.

Table 1: 2024 and 2025 financial years ending performance measures for Apprenticeship Boost
Performance measure2023/2024 performance2024/2025 performanceComment
Number of learners being supported 25,725 17,355 Number of supported learners has declined due to eligibility changes and the downturn in the construction sector.
Number of study commencements 14,915 11,660 Commencements in the 2025 calendar year were significantly lower, reflecting the downturn in the economy and in the construction sector.
Ongoing completion rate 80.5% 85.7%  
First-year attrition and retention rates - - Not available.

First-year retention is calculated where a learner has been retained in training into their thirteenth or more month of training, without withdrawing, but this can represent a period of more than thirteen (or more) contiguous calendar months.

See Table 2 for the most recent retention data.

Table 2: New Zealand Apprenticeship first-year attrition and retention rates, calendar years 2021 to 2024 (financial years ending)
Year Attrition rate (%) Retention rate (%)
2020/2021 14 86
2021/2022 17 83
2022/2023 17 83
2023/2024 14 86


Apprenticeship Boost: Monthly demographic statisticsUpdated: April 2026

These tables present counts relating to the Apprenticeship Boost initiative by a range of demographic and other characteristics.


Apprenticeship training helps to help meet strong demand for skilled tradespeople across Aotearoa New Zealand.

Apprenticeship Boost statistics relate to learners who have been verified by the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) for the purposes of Apprenticeship Boost payments.

Verification by the TEC takes place after an employer has been verified by Inland Revenue and has applied for Apprenticeship Boost payments. The TEC verifies for MSD that employees are enrolled in a New Zealand Apprenticeship or TEC-approved Managed Apprenticeship, and how many months of apprenticeship training they have done. MSD makes payments in accordance with the Apprenticeship Boost Initiative Welfare Programme. The Ministry of Education produces Apprenticeship Boost data sets using Industry Training Register and Single Data Return data, which provides for demographic analysis. Apprenticeship Boost data is anonymised, and is not able to be linked to MSD payments data.

This division of data responsibility provides for:

  • Confidence that employees’ privacy is protected, and each agency has information that is needed to carry out its functions.
  • Confidence that payments are being made for eligible employees.

Analysis of Apprenticeship Boost data for reporting and policy development, utilising the industry training data available.