National Skills Week (25-31 August) highlights the power of vocational training to give workers the skills required for successful and satisfying careers.

But VET is also key to achieving the skills needs of industries across regional and remote Australia, where job vacancies are growing at faster rates than metropolitan areas.

Health, construction, hospitality, and retail are among the largest employing industries requiring VET-qualified staff, including those in shortage such as aged and disabled carers, truck drivers, and electricians.

Mining continues to be a large employer of VET-qualified workers, while the clean energy transformation is creating significant employment opportunities in regional and remote Australia for people trained through VET.

Jobs and Skills Australia states that “regional and remote areas have seen a shift in the share of employment towards occupations where VET is the primary pathway in addition to a shift towards highly skilled occupations”.

It also reveals VET students from inner regional, outer regional, and remote areas have consistently better training outcomes than their counterparts in major cities.

It is in terms of higher rates of completing their qualification as well as having significantly improved employment status after their training.

"National Skills Week plays a pivotal role in raising awareness on the diversity of careers that can be realised through Vocational Education and Training , highlighting the skills needs of industry , the jobs now and the jobs of the future," National Skills Week chair Brian Wexham said.

Whether you are a high school student or a parent looking to provide guidance to your child, we invite you to use National Skills Week to explore all the options available through VET.

Check out free TAFE courses, investigate apprenticeship degree courses, and examine courses and careers that connect to a passion.

Delve into the diversity offered through VET, get inspired, and discover the many rewarding career pathways and options available that will help ensure young Australians are job ready.