In a bid to provide work for school leavers, and to keep salons open, the Federal Government has announced a new apprentice and trainee subsidy.
Reported to be valued at $1.2 billion, the subsidy will cover half of a trainee or apprentice’s wage for up to $28,000 per person, and will be paid directly to the salon owner, in arrears.
Different to the Job Trainer payment, which was announced in July and works to keep exisiting apprentices in their jobs, the new subsidy is about creating new jobs, and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg estimates the scheme will deliver 100,000 jobs.
“This is helping to create new apprenticeships in a very difficult time,” he said, explaining that any apprentice that is added to a salon’s books from today, will be eligible to apply for the scheme.
“This is a good thing for salons,” says business analyst Chris Telpton. “It opens up the opportunity to bring on new staff, at a dramatically reduced cost, and to still be eligible for all of the tax benefits that come with hiring and training an apprentice.”
With the scheme in place for the next year, salon owners will now be in a position to consider replacing any staff members they may have had to let go throughout the pandemic, with young, trainable staff.
“So many salon owners would have had staff on their books that perhaps were not eligible for JobKeeper and so they couldn’t afford to keep them. With business slowly picking up again, business owners need staff, but meeting their salary obligations is still tough for many. This really is an opportunity that salon owners should consider if they’re looking down the barrel of needing to fill a position.”
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