The number of Australians in training slid nearly 6 per cent last year from 2016, down to 1.2m, according to new figures from the estimable National Centre for Vocational Education Research. TAFE enrolments were down 5.8 per cent and 8.1 per cent at private providers. The worse providers were in NSW with total enrolments down 30 900 (6.8 per cent) and South Australia, where numbers fell by 11 per cent.

In something approaching, at a distance, good news, apprentices and trainees combing work and training, was up 1.5 per cent.